The Search for Ash Ketchum
by MrTheatrical
Summary: After certain confrontations and actions, Ash Ketchum disappears from the world along with his Pokémon. Many years have passed since then and while many have forgotten Ash, some still remember, with one trainer in particular setting out to find him. I don't own Pokémon or any of the music used. Amourshipping will also be used too.
1. Prologue - The Legend of Mount Silver

Hello all and welcome to my next fanfic, The Search for Ash Ketchum. To add a little fun to this fanfic, I will put in music to play for scenes, and the music will not only be from Pokemon, but other franchises too! Hope you all enjoy!

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(plays Pokemon GSC Olivine Lighthouse/Mt. Silver remix by LightUmbreon)

Upon the borders of the Kanto and Johto regions lies Mt. Silver, the largest mountain range of the Pokemon World. This area has been labeled as one of the most dangerous areas in the World of Pokemon, if not the most dangerous, due to its deadly climate like the snowstorms that occur on top of the mountains, frequent avalanches and rockslides, and the many vicious wild Pokemon that live in the area. Because of that, regular civilians are not allowed to enter the area and only trainers who have been approved by certain people high in authority can enter. Though, this doesn't stop certain people from sneaking in from time to time. Case in point, as right now, a Pokemon Poacher has managed to sneak his way into the area, and he is currently at the base of the mountain range, locking various types of Pokemon in cages on his truck with his two Pokemon, Rhyperior and Electrivire.

"Way too easy," the Poacher muttered to himself as he counted a cage full of Donphan and Phanpy, "with 16 Donphan and 20 Phanpy from Mt. Silver, I should make a million without question." He then gave an intimidating glance to the Pokemon in the cage, causing the Phanpy to cower as their parents stand defensively beside them. "And that's not even including all the other Pokemon here that'll make me rich."

The Poacher then turned to around to see Electrivire stacking a cage of Ponyta and Teddiursa onto the truck and Rhyperior walking over to his trainer, planning to do the same for the Donphan and Phanpy. One of the Donphan tried to bash its way out of the cage, but the steel bars proved too sturdy for that. The Poacher saw this and laughed sadistically. "Try that all you like, but you'll never break out! Come on Rhyperior, get these guys on the truck already!"

However, before Rhyperior could pick up the cage, he saw something behind his trainer and pointed. The Poacher followed Rhyperior's finger to see a hooded figure approximately 7 feet behind him. The Poacher couldn't make much of the figure due to his hood, but could see he's about the same height as him, though not as the Poacher really cared as he was interfering with his business.

Annoyed, the Poacher yelled, "What do you want? Get out of here! Can't you see I'm trying to make money over here?!"

There came no reply from the hooded figure. Instead, he only walked a few feet closer to the Poacher, changing the distance between them to 5 feet, along with making a few strands of raven-dark hair slightly visible from the hood. This action only frustrated the Poacher even more now.

"Grr, if you're here to free the Pokemon, good luck with that! I've trained my Pokemon to kill and I'm not afraid to use them!"

There was still no reply from the hooded figure, who then only walked closer to the Poacher, now two feet away from him. Now closer, the figure's hair was now more noticeable than before, and his eyes were also now visibly, though only very slightly, with their brown color slightly shining from the hood. The Poacher was now having enough of this foolishness, so he turned his head to his Rhyperior behind him and commanded him to use Hyper Beam. He then turned back to the mysterious figure and said, "Just know, you brought this to yourself. Rhyperior, end him!" The Pokemon nodded and started charging up a powerful Hyper Beam within his hands, though the figure just stood in his place, not afraid at all. Just then...

(plays From Shadows (starts at 1:19) from RWBY by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams)

A Pikachu suddenly jumped from the hood, somersaulting over the Poacher's head and using Iron Tail on the Rhyperior's head before it could finish charging up the attack. Then a Greninja appeared from behind the hooded figure, swiftly rushing to the Donphan and Phanpy cage and using Night Slash twice on it, completely slicing the cage open, allowing the Pokemon to happily escape. The Poacher stared surprised to see the Pokemon escape and his Rhyperior knocked out from the single attack. He then angrily turned to the hooded figure, now knowing his intentions. "You!" He then turned to his Electrivire next to the truck. "Electrivire, take out the Greninja!"

The large electric type nodded and fired its Thunderbolt attack twice towards the frog ninja, but Greninja easily avoided the attack both times with a cartwheel, then a backflip. Greninja then gave Electrivire a "bring it on" hand gesture, provoking Electrivire to growl and charge towards him with Thunder Punch. When Electrivire got close though, Greninja quickly used Smokescreen to cover the area with a thick cloud of black smoke. Now confused, Electrivire cancelled its attack and look around, searching for Greninja, until he was suddenly repeatedly attacked by a different Pokemon running in. This new Pokemon was a Sceptile and he was using Leaf Blade on him in a non-stop onslaught. After one last Leaf Blade, Electrivire was sent flying through the cloud of smoke and into the tops of two cages next to the truck, destroying the tops and allowing the Pokemon inside to escape. The smoke then cleared revealing both Greninja and Sceptile who fist-bumped.

The Poacher angrily recalled both Rhyperior and Electrivire into their Pokeballs and said, "You think those were the only ones," he then threw four more. "I got plenty more where that came from!" He threw the four Pokeballs, releasing a Tangrowth, Magmortar, Magnezone, and Lickilicky. The four Pokemon surrounded the hooded man and his three Pokemon, but neither of them were scared or worried. Instead, the man grinned and snapped his fingers. Behind the Lickilicky came an Infernape jumping up from underground. The tongue Pokemon turned around, surprised of the sudden new adversary, and Infernape then used Flare Blitz on him, sending both of them to three cages on the other side of the truck, knocking out Lickilicky and destroying the cages, freeing the Pokemon. Infernape also appeared completely unharmed from the attack, which is weird as Flare Blitz usually causes recoil damage. The other three Pokemon of the Poacher stared shocked at the sudden attack, giving Sceptile and Greninja the chance to sneak behind Magmortar and Tangrowth respectively and perform a combo of attacks on them. Greninja kicked Tangrowth into the air, threw a Water Shuriken at him, and then slashes him multiple times with Night Slash. Sceptile tripped Magmortar with a natural leg sweep, but then kicked Magmortar to the ground before he could fall down himself, and as the Magmortar bounced back up, Sceptile somersaults towards and delivers multiple Leaf Blade attacks. Greninja then uses Aerial Ace to kick Tangrowth down to Magmortar, and as the two bounce from the ground, Greninja lands before them a gives them three swift Night Slashes before Sceptile fires them away with Solar Beam. Magmortar and Tangrowth both landed right behind the truck, knocked out, as Infernape was freeing more Pokemon in cages by destroying them with Mach Punch. The Magnezone hovered over Sceptile and Greninja with the intent of attacking them with Discharge, but was hit from behind by Pikachu's Skull Bash, followed by a Thunderbolt, sending the magnet Pokemon towards the truck. Infernape saw the magnet Pokemon coming, so he used Blaze Kick to kick Magnezone to the ground when it got close.

The Poacher was furious as he recalled all his fallen Pokemon. He then saw all his captured Pokemon had escaped except for a shiny Ursaring in a tall cage at the back of his truck and Infernape was just about to free it.

"GET AWAY FROM MY MONEY!" the Poacher yelled as he threw a bomb towards Infernape. The fire monkey saw it in time, allowing him to backflip away from the blast. The Infernape then sensed his trainer wanting him to return to his side for his safety, so he did just that. The Poacher then brought out a machine gun and started firing at the hooded man and his Pokemon, but the man brought out his hand and generated some kind of shield around himself and his Pokemon, protecting them from the bullets.

"You FREAK!" the Poacher shouted as he continued to fire, running to his truck while doing so. When he got to his vehicle, he put his weapon away, got in, and drove away with the Shiny Ursaring still caged in the back, using a secret rocky route close to a mountainside that he used to sneak into the area before. The hooded man was not frustrated at all seeing the Poacher get away. Instead, he just took out two Pokeballs.

As he drove along the secret route, the Poacher grumbled to himself, "Even though I lost all that extra cash, I still got the most valuable prize of all!" grinning as he stared at his rearview mirror to take another glance at the Shiny Ursaring. When we took his eyes back on the road though, he saw a humongous Charizard in the way, with the hooded man and his Pikachu on his back. Not letting anything get in his way, the Poacher sped up the accelerator more, intending to run the three over, but this was a huge mistake as when he got close to the Charizard, the giant dragon grabbed both sides of the front of the vehicle, bringing it to a complete stop thanks to his massive strength. The Poacher looked horrified at the monster in front of him, until he looked at this rearview mirror again to see a Lucario freeing the Shiny Ursaring by destroying its cage with Bone Rush. The Poacher turned away and shouted in desperation, "NO!" as the Shiny Ursaring thanked the jackal Pokemon and ran back to its home. The Lucario then jumped out of the truck and beside the giant Charizard. The Charizard then effortlessly lifted the truck from off the ground, horrifying the Poacher even more as the hooded man then pointed to the truck, cueing the Charizard to use Flamethrower on the vehicle. Upon seeing the dragon's mouth light up with fire, the Poacher quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and jumped out of his truck, though not having a good landing due to the height the Charizard had the truck on in his hands. A huge breath of bright and extremely hot flames engulfed the truck, completely destroying the entire vehicle. The Poacher was on his knees on the ground, so hurt from the fall to get back up, and he saw the hooded man jump off his Charizard and walk towards him. The Poacher had a terrified face when he confronted him. He was now scared of this mysterious man.

(music stops playing)

"Just who are you?!"

There was still no response from the man. The man only brought up his left hand, which was pulsing with some kind of blue energy, and forcefully grabbed the Poacher's shoulder. The Poacher's vision started to become a blur as he passed out.

The Poacher eventually woke up, and much to his surprise, he was now in the streets of Viridian City. He swung his head around in shock and confusion, until several police cars came led by Officer Jenny on her motorcycle with her Growlithe on the sidecar. The police cars stopped around the Poacher and several cops came out and surrounded him, pointing their guns, and Officer Jenny walked towards him with handcuffs in her right arm and she said, "Jerry Frederick, you're under arrest for accessing Mt. Silver without permission, illegal use of firearms, and illegal Pokemon poaching actions! Stay right where you are and don't make a move!" The Poacher was still weak from his encounter with the hooded man, so he did what the officer said: don't move, allowing Jenny to easily handcuff his hands behind his back as he slightly protested.

"Wait, how did I even get here anyway?"

One of the cops responded, "We just found you here lying down the streets," they then got him to a car. "Alright, get in, you sick Pokemon Poacher!"

The cops threw the Poacher in the back seats of the car and drove him away for prison as all the other police cars followed, leaving Jenny and her Growlithe alone as the officer looked up to the direction of Mt. Silver and wondered, "Could it be the rumored Legend of Mt. Silver that was responsible for taking down Jerry Frederick," she then shrugged and went back on her motorcycle with Growlithe hopping back on the sidecar. "I guess we'll never know."

Back at Mt. Silver, the hooded man with his six Pokemon were standing at the edge of a cliff that was at a higher altitude from where the fight between him and the Poacher. The man then patted each of them and said, "Thanks a lot guys. You all did an amazing job." Each Pokemon happily reacted to their trainer's appreciation and touch, pleased to have done a great job for him. The man then turned around and said, "Come on guys. Let's get back to the others." The man made his way up the mountain and his Pokemon followed.

As Lucario walked beside him trainer, he turned his head to him and said, "Master, I hope you know that if it wasn't for your planning, we wouldn't have been able to pull it off in the first place." The other Pokemon nodded in agreement.

The man chuckled and said, "Thanks Lucario, but honestly, you guys put in the most work and I myself couldn't thank you enough. Also Lucario, please stop calling me "Master.""

"Right. Sorry Mas- I mean, Ash."

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And that's the prologue of the story: Ash and his Pokemon being badasses! Stay tuned for the next chapter where we hear more of Ash and why he and his Pokemon are at Mt. Silver! I don't own Pokemon and any of the music, I don't forget to leave a review if there's something on my grammar or formatting that I need to improve on, or if just want to send me your general thoughts! Thank you!


	2. Chapter 1 - How it All Began

Warning: Some content might contain spoilers for the Pokemon XY and Z anime because I looked ahead. Please read at your own risk. Also, depending how the rest of the Kalos League (as most of this is what I think will come out of the rest of the season), I might go back and change some things in this chapter later, but it won't affect the rest of the fanfic. Hope you enjoy the first chapter!

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Charizard flew his trainer and teammates to the top of Mt. Silver. Doing something like would usually be hard or impossible for any normal Charizard due to the extreme altitude, vicious snowstorms, and the fact that having to carry a human and five other Pokemon would be too heavy, but Ash's Charizard was no normal Charizard. A task like that was nothing to him as he has done it many times throughout the years, along with the snowstorms being ineffective due to his powerful flame and his incredible body and strength made carrying Ash and his other Pokemon pretty easy. Ash and the other Pokemon got off the dragon, and Ash happily thanked him. Going through the snowy area, they finally came across their home, a giant mountain with a wide and long crater on top that barely extended over the clouds, with the cave entrance against the side of the mountain.

(plays DK Isle from Donkey Kong 64)

Inside the cave was a narrow passageway that led to the beautiful interior of the crater, which had many waterfalls leading to a giant pool of water in the middle, healthy shades of grass with flowers surrounding the pool, many trees full of fruits and berries, rocky cliffs and mountains around the sides, and cave holes against the walls of the cliffs and mountains. All around residing the beautiful area were the rest of Ash's Pokemon that he had caught throughout his many journeys in the past. Ash looked up to the top of the crater where his bird Pokemon flew as the sunlight of the setting sun clipped their wings, and then looked down to the pool where his Water Pokemon swam.

Sceptile, Greninja, Charizard, Lucario, and Infernape went off to do their own activities as Ash with Pikachu on his shoulder walked down to the pool. At the edge of the pool, Pikachu jumped off his trainer's shoulder and started drinking some water while Ash took off his hood and looked at his reflection on the water's surface. He looked a lot different than the 10-year old he was before he went off the treacherous mountain. He was tall and muscular, in fact, his figure, size, and muscles were the exact same as Bruno of the Elite Four. He still retained his raven-dark hair that was still kept in the same spiked and messy style it was when he started his first journey, albeit, perhaps a bit longer. He also still had his lightning-shaped birthmarks on his cheeks and his brown eyes that still had that adventurous shine in them, though one thing different about Ash's face was a small vertical scar beneath his left eye, probably obtained from the many years of training himself with his Pokemon. On top of his head was a red and white Pokeball-style cap, the same one he wore in his Kalos journey. While Ash valued all his hats, this one just seems to precious to him for some reason, like it was something that reminded him of someone special, though Ash could just never know why. Besides his hat, Ash wore nothing but ripped light gray pants supported by a black cloth belt and a spiked Mega Bracelet on his left wrist. When he first traveled up Mt. Silver years ago, Ash chose this style of clothing as being a trainer who prefers to put himself in equal terms with his Pokemon, Ash felt it would help him connect with his Pokemon more, such as whenever he trains himself with his Pokemon, he's just as armorless as them. After staring at his reflection, Ash sighed and said, "I sure have changed over the years."

Hearing this, Pikachu stopped drinking, looked up to his trainer, and said, "Pika Pi, pi pikachu?"

Ash chuckled, bent down to Pikachu, and started scratching the fur on his head and said, "Don't worry buddy, I'm fine. It's just that, well..." Ash paused for a bit, but then continued on, "it's kinda hard to believe eight years have gone by since we all first settled here."

" _Eight years..._ " Ash mentally repeated to myself. Ash stood back up from his bent position and stretched out a little bit, slightly flexing his giant muscles. He then turned around and started making his way back out of the interior of the crater, with " _Eight years._ " still repeating inside his head as Pikachu followed behind him, curious of what his trainer is doing.

(music stops playing)

Pikachu followed Ash outside and up to his trainer's favorite spot of Mt. Silver, the highest peak of the central mountain, which wasn't too far from the mountain where he, his trainer, and all the other Pokemon resided. This peak was so high, both of the entirety of the Kanto and Johto regions were visible. Pikachu found Ash sitting on the flat peak, looking off to the direction of their former home, Pallet Town. The little electric mouse ran up to his trainer, wanting to help out with anything that could be on Ash's mind right now.

"Pika Pi? Pikachu pi pika?"

Ash then turned to his best friend. "Pikachu, I told you I'm fine. I'm just... remembering something right now..."

Ash then continued to look toward Pallet Town, remembering the reason why he and his Pokemon left.

 **Flashback - 8 years ago**

(plays Route 1 from Pokemon (Anime))

 _Ash and Pikachu were happily making their way back to Pallet Town after being dropped off at the airport. The two had just finished their Kalos journey, where they met many friends and took part in thousands of fun and invigorating adventures. Even though Ash did not win the Lumiose Conference due to Team Flare interfering with the finals match between him and Alain at the last second so they can start their plan to take over the region with the power of Zygarde, he didn't mind at all knowing he was able to protect the land and all the people and Pokemon on it from certain demise. Besides, before the interference, he at least made it to the Top 2, the highest he's ever been in a Pokemon League. He also made a lot of great friends in his journey, something Ash could never ask for more in any journey. There was also something else Ash was now looking forward to after overhearing about it on the plane, the Ultimate Championship Tournament. This special tournament is only held every four years at Driftveil City, and it's been said that it's way more challenging than any other league tournament. Only the best of the best Pokemon Trainers compete and only the best above the rest wins, and Ash was planning to train his Pokemon non-stop for when the tournament starts in the next two weeks, but right now, Ash just wanted to see his mom, Oak, and all his old Pokemon again. Walking up a path on a hill, Ash spotted his hometown in a far distance from the top._

" _There it is Pikachu! Pallet Town!"_

" _Pi pikachu pi!"_

" _I bet mom is just waiting for us at home. Can't wait to see her again!"_

" _Pikachu Pika Pi!"_

 _Ash then took out his five Pokeballs which contained the five Pokemon friends he met in the Kalos region: Greninja, Talonflame, Hawlucha, Goodra (whom Keanan allowed to go with Ash instead of staying at the Wetlands), and Noivern. The young trainer threw the capsules into the air, releasing the five Kalos Pokemon, with Pikachu joining them. Upon release, they all curiously looked around the new region. The air and atmosphere was a lot different than Kalos. Ash then happily turned to his Pokemon and said, "Guys, even though we didn't win the league, I just want to let you all know I had an amazing time at Kalos with all of you! We've made so many fun memories together and you've all proven yourselves to be great and awesome Pokemon that a trainer like me couldn't be more thankful for! I'm extremely proud of all the effort and hard work you all put into the league for me and needless to say, I love you guys a lot!"_

 _Touched by Ash's kind words, all six Pokemon joyfully jumped up and landed on their trainer with a big hug, happy to have such an extremely thoughtful, caring, and optimistic trainer, though their combined weight slightly crushed Ash a bit, but he didn't mind as he just laughed and hugged them all back. When they were all done hugging each other, they all got back up from the ground and Ash pointed towards Pallet Town and said, "See that town down there? That's my home, Pallet Town!," Ash then pointed to Professor Oak's Laboratory in the distance. "And that's Professor Oak's Lab over there! Professor Oak takes care of all my other Pokemon that I've caught at other regions in my previous journeys, and I can't wait for you guys to meet them all!" The Kalos Pokemon nodded in agreement as Pikachu jumped up with a "Pika pika," excited to his old friends again. Ash then pointed down to a small blue house with a red roof just a couple miles away from Oak's Lab. "Over down there is my house and that's where my mom lives, and I know you're all going to love to meet her too! She's probably really anxious to see us, so let's see her first, then we can go to the lab," Ash then grew a mischievous grin on his face. "Let's race down there! Last one there is a rotten Exeggcute," Ash then suddenly took off ahead of his Pokemon, "and trainer gets headstart!" His Pokemon followed behind him, trying to get ahead._

 _Ash was laughing as he raced his Pokemon. Goodra was the first to pass, using his massive body to purposely block Ash's path. Talonflame flew over the both of them, mockingly laughing at them as he did, but he then was grounded by Greninja, who was using his acrobatic jumping capabilities to get ahead, only to be caught off-guard when Hawlucha flew on his head and forcefully jumped off, using the momentum to gain some extra speed in the air while knocking Greninja to the ground. Hawlucha happily laughed, feeling victory is close, until Noivern came and did the same thing he did to Greninja on him. As Hawlucha got up, he saw Noivern overconfidently cheer to himself, causing Hawlucha to happily sigh, proud of how far the Soundwave Pokemon grew up since it was a Noibat. Noivern was so excited though, he didn't see the tree in his way in time due to having his eyes closed, causing him to hit it and Ash, Greninja, Talonflame, Hawlucha, and Goodra to pass him. Noivern quickly regained consciousness and flew towards them, not too far behind._

" _Looks like I'm gonna win!" Ash cheered to himself, having to have regained the lead._

 _Pikachu, however, easily passed all six of them using Quick Attack, laughing at all of them when he was now several feet away from them._

" _Hey, no using moves! That's cheating!" Ash yelled, though Pikachu didn't listen. Eventually, everyone else caught up with Pikachu and the race became just a friendly run, as Ash and his Pokemon were content of having each other around and being able to have fun._

 _(music stops playing)_

 _Moments later, Noivern stopped in his tracks. Being a Soundwave Pokemon, he had superhuman hearing capabilities, and he heard... something... somewhere... close by... Noivern looked around, curious of where he heard that sound and what is it. All the others saw Noivern and stopped in their tracks and Ash started walking towards Noivern._

" _Noivern, are you alright buddy?"_

 _Noivern didn't respond, still focusing on trying to figure out where that sound came from and what was it. Just then, he heard another sound from something else... and for some reason, he could hear it getting closer... and closer... and it was heading for Ash! Noivern quickly tackled his trainer to the ground, narrowly avoiding an arrow aimed for Ash's head that ended up hitting a tree. Ash's other Pokemon stared surprised at the sudden arrow as Ash and Noivern got up._

" _What's going on?!" Ash questioned at loud, shocked and frightened of almost getting struck by an arrow._

 _Suddenly, they all heard a new voice say, "You're Ash Ketchum, right?"_

(plays Final Battle Against Ganon (starts at 0:10) from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)

 _The source of the voice then revealed himself to Ash and his Pokemon. It was a man dressed in complete black clothing, silver hair, and he wore a pair of shades too. On his back was a quiver of arrows and he held a bow in his right hand. He also had an unsheathed sword hanged on the left of his belt. Ash's Pokemon stood defensively in front of their trainer, knowing he was the one who fired the arrow towards Ash._

" _Yes," Ash said, answering the question, "but who are you?"_

 _The new man didn't respond, instead, he took out a red arrow from his quiver and fired it towards Ash. Pikachu used Electro Ball to block the arrow, causing an explosion that pushed Ash and his Pokemon back, though still on their feet. Ash was suddenly kicked from behind, causing him to fall to the ground. Lifting himself with his hands, Ash turned to see who kicked him, seeing a woman dressed similarly to the man, only with dark hair to match her clothes. She unsheathed her sword and pointed it to Ash's face._

" _We've detected that you are capable of using Aura, and for that, you must die." threatened the woman before she was struck down by Pikachu's Thunderbolt, sending her to her knee._

 _Ash got back up as his Pokemon surrounded him in case there were any more attacks from the bow and sword-armed people. Ash was surprised. How did these people know he could use Aura? He himself haven't used it in while, he almost forgot himself. "How did you guys know?"_

" _It's simple," the man said, causing Ash to turn back to him, seeing some kind of radar device, "and according to these wavelengths, it looks like you have a lot of it."_

" _I-I-I do?"_

" _Indeed, enough to become a full-fledged Aura Guardian even. And all the more of a reason to end your life." The man took out his sword and leapt towards Ash with a downward strike, but Greninja deflected him away with Cut._

" _Why is that a good reason to kill me?!" Ash angrily demanded._

" _You Aura Users and Guardians are nothing but pure evil, causing havoc and turmoil wherever you and your Pokemon go!"_

" _That's not true! Even though I don't use my Aura often, I know Aura Guardians are not evil! Sir Aaron and his Lucario for example..."_

" _Almost caused the end of the Tree of Beginning due to their involvement in some sort of crisis in two different time eras," said the woman as she got up, recovered from Pikachu's Thunderbolt. "And if I recall, I believe you and your Pokemon also almost caused an end to the Tree of Beginning due to being apart of the same crisis Sir Aaron's Lucario was."_

 _Ash furiously gritted his teeth. These jerks just show up attacking him and his Pokemon, accusing the kind of people Ash is technically a part of of being nothing but villains who bring disaster to others. They have no right being so discriminatory like that!_

" _Even if you don't plan to become an Aura Guardian yourself, we can never be too sure. Who knows if you decide to change your mind in the future." added the woman. This frustrated Ash even more as now they were thinking they knew everything. The woman then raised her sword and said, "Goodbye Ash Ketchum." As soon she said that, a sudden rainstorm started._

(plays Swipe of Sword from Devil May Cry 4)

 _The woman swung her sword down to Ash, but Pikachu used Iron Tail to block the attack from Ash as Hawlucha ran in and used Karate Chop on the woman's gut, pushing her back, but not down. Goodra grabbed the man with his long antennas and threw him to the woman, though he quickly regained his composure in midair and safely landed beside the woman, both drawing their swords. Ash's Pokemon stood around their trainer, ready to fight, and Ash looked at them and then the sword-wielding people. He knew he has no other choice to fight back. Their lives were on the line, they're too far away from Pallet Town to get help, and running to the innocent town would only cause more chaos anyway. There's no running away now. Ash then called out to his new enemies, "I hope you all know it's 7 versus 2 right now!"_

" _That may be." said the man before he and the woman revealed more weapons like daggers and even pistols under their jackets._

" _But we're better armed." finished the woman._

 _Ash clenched his fists. This was gonna be some fight, one that's far, far different than any he's had in any of his journeys. "Whatever you all do, please be careful." Ash whispered to his Pokemon, hoping they won't get too seriously injured in this battle._

 _Pikachu, Greninja, and Goodra stepped forward and fired Thunderbolt, Water Shuriken, and Dragon Pulse respectively to the two humans, but very surprisingly, the both of them easily deflected away the projectile attacks with their swords. Noivern flew upward and tried Boomburst, but the man stepped forward with a staff and twirled it in the direction of the attack, effectively shielding the sound-based attack. Ash gritted his teeth again. Obviously, ranged combat won't work with these guys. The woman took out a landmine and slid to Ash and his Pokemon, causing them all to split before it went out, though they were still knocked to the ground by the force of the explosion. Both the man and woman then ran towards Ash with their swords, only to be interfered by Hawlucha and Noivern respectively attacking them with High Jump Kick and Dragon Claw. Hawlucha tried another High Jump Kick towards the man, but he caught the luchador bird's knee in time and forcefully slammed him to the ground and then following up with a horrible jab from his staff to Hawlucha's gut, knocking the poor Pokemon out. Noivern saw all this and was now enraged at the man for hurting Hawlucha like that. He instantly took his focus off the woman and started flying towards the man while roaring, but this was a mistake as the woman grabbed him by the neck with her whip and pulled him towards her. She then pulled the whip tighter, causing Noivern to suffocate, and just when he was about to lose all his air, the woman unwrapped the whip, leaving Noivern on the ground trying to regain his breath. This was all just the woman's plan though as now with the soundwave Pokemon completely vulnerable, she was able to give it a vicious lash on Noivern's back with the whip, knocking him out. Goodra got up from the explosion in time to see the man and woman having defeated two of his friends, angering Goodra enough to wrap both of them within him antennas with the intent of crushing them. Unfortunately for the dragon, the man and the woman sprayed some type of gas into his eyes, causing him to let go as he weld his eyes in pain. The man then took out an ice bomb and stuck it on Goodra's chest. The bomb exploded, leaving a Goodra completely covered in a thick layer of ice minus his head, and the poor dragon was knocked out. The woman then saw Greninja and Talonflame getting up from the explosion, causing her to grin and nod to the man. The man nodded back and he took out his pistol and pointed to Goodra's face. Greninja and Talonflame saw this, provoking them to charge in towards their enemies without thinking. Both the man and woman evilly smirked, pleased their plan to make them vulnerable worked. Without notice, the woman took out her claw grappling hook and fired it to Talonflame. The claw hook grabbed hold of Talonflame's torso and pulled him back to the woman where she then sent the hook up to the sky, causing Talonflame to get struck by a strong bolt of lightning. The claw then let go of its grip on Talonflame, causing him to fall to the ground. Meanwhile, Greninja was dueling with the man's daggers with Cut, before leaping to the air and charging down to him with Aerial Ace, though when he got close, the man quickly threw a large net at Greninja, trapping him inside. The man took out a detonator and pressed a button, causing the net to electrocute Greninja with a powerful field of electricity, not like any electric attack he has taken before. Unable to free himself, Greninja was forced to take the pain until it was over, severely weakened. Greninja tried to get back up his feet, but ultimately failed and fell to the ground. The only Pokemon left was Pikachu, who had now just gotten up from the landmine explosion. He looked at all his fallen comrades and became furious. These villains have done it now; they severely injured his friends, tried to kill his trainer, he has had it! Pikachu jumped to the air and activated an attack he hasn't used in a while: Volt Tackle. Pikachu charged towards the two humans, not holding anything back, but the man and woman both pressed a button on the side of their shades, activating a large and strong flash that blinded Pikachu, causing him to cancel the attack and fall to the ground next to them, though he wasn't done yet. He's not going to let them hurt his best friend! Pikachu then attacked with Iron Tail, but the two only countered with their swords again until the woman jumped up and kicked Pikachu, sending him back down, but he quickly got back out and started firing multiple Electro Balls at them, but they were either avoided or deflected away with their swords. Pikachu switched to Quick Attack and started circling around them in hopes of landing a surprise hit, but the man countered this by placing a unique mine on the ground that instead of exploding, caused an earthquake to the area, sending Pikachu off his feet, cancelling the attack. With one last option, Pikachu jumped to the air to absorb a stray lightning bolt's electric energy (just like he did to a flock of Spearow when he first met Ash) and fired an extremely powerful Thunderbolt to the two villains. The man and woman fell to their knees, but they were not through yet, so Pikachu still kept on with the attack, not stopping until he sees them going down. Unfortunately for Pikachu, no matter how much power he had, it for some reason wasn't enough as eventually, the man and woman were getting back up to their feet despite the attack still going on, so Pikachu still kept going until he started to feel weak due to having used up an extreme amount of electricity in one go. Tired, Pikachu was forced to stop the attack as he fell to his knees, panting, and now that he was vulnerable, the man took out his staff, ran towards Pikachu, and swung it painfully to Pikachu's head, knocking him out._

(music stops playing)

" _All too easy." remarked the woman as she walked to the man's side while staring at all the downed Pokemon._

" _Now there's just him." stated the man, indicating towards Ash._

 _After he said that, Ash was just now getting back up from the landmine explosion and upon seeing all his Pokemon defeated, he was saddened and horrified. He had failed to protect them when they risked their lives to protect him. Ash then started crying as he stayed on his knee. "No... How could I let this happen?!"_

" _Just a regular doing of an Aura user; putting danger to the lives of others," mocked the woman as she and the man walked towards Ash with their swords. "You brought this to yourself."_

" _Brought this to myself? Brought this to myself?! You guys are the jerks who attacked me and my Pokemon out of nowhere! We didn't even know you guys, we were just having a good day, living our lives, and then you two came!"_

" _We told you kid, we're only stopping you Aura users from causing any more harm to our world. We're only doing the good people of the world a favor." said the man._

" _My Pokemon have done nothing to you guys, yet you two attacked them in cold blood!"_

" _An Aura User's Pokemon is no more innocent than their trainer. And we will finish them off after we finish you off." said the woman._

 _The man approached Ash and brought up his sword. He then swung it down towards Ash's head._

" _NO!"_

(plays Battle of the Twin Demons from Okami)

 _With a blink of the eye, Ash managed to catch the sword within his hand, the blade not even causing any harm to his palm. Ash looked at his hand to see it pulsing with blue energy, his Aura! Ash then saw the same for his other hand too. The young trainer was just as surprised as his adversaries, he could feel his Aura surging through his entire body, something he hasn't felt since he helped Sir Aaron's Lucario revive the Tree of Beginning before being pushed away. Now feeling his Aura's power within, Ash tightened his grip on the man's sword, breaking the blade and causing the man to recoil as stood up, ready to fight back now. The woman took out her radar and saw that the wavelengths of Ash's Aura were now off the charts._

" _His power is to the max! Take him out now!" the woman shouted to the man._

 _The man took out his pistol and started shooting towards Ash, but on instinct, Ash let his hand out to generate an Aura shield around himself, protecting him from the bullets. Ash stared at his palm surprised, and said, "Whoa." He didn't even think he could do that. He then looked back up and charged towards the man, who was now using a machine gun, but Ash's Aura shield continued to block every bullet. Ash then readied his fist and brought it to the man's face with a punch, sending him to the ground. "That is for hurting my friends!"_

 _From behind, the woman fired an arrow towards Ash, but thanks to his Aura, Ash was able to detect the attack and duck under it. The woman fired more arrows towards Ash, but he avoided each and every one as he ran to the woman and started engaging with close quarters combat. The woman first tried to attack with the bow itself, but Ash avoided every swing and when she tried to grasp his neck with the weapon, Ash only grasped the parts of the arch she didn't have her hands on and squeezed it in his palms, destroying the bow with his Aura. The woman then tried to kick Ash twice, but Ash blocked each hit and countered back with his own kick. The woman blocked the attack, but then Ash gave her a surprise spin kick, sending her to the air, though the woman backflipped on the ground to regain her composure. She took out her whip and lashed it towards Ash, who brought up his right arm, causing the whip to wrap around his wrist. As the two tried to pull each other, Ash saw the man behind him running towards him with a dagger, so Ash swung back with the whip still wrapped on his wrist, causing the woman to fly off her feet and be launched into the man, sending both to the ground. The woman got up and slid another landmine towards Ash, but at the right moment, Ash jumped back a good distance away from the mine and trapped the explosion in a sphere of Aura. He then sent the sphere to the two mercenaries, resulting in the explosion hitting them, separating them. Ash ran towards the downed woman, took off her shades and pointed the lens right directly in front of the woman's eyes before pressing the button on the side, activating the flash attack. With her vision severely blinded now, the woman got up and reeled back, rubbing her eyes. He then turned his focus to the man, who now was using his staff as he charged towards Ash, spinning it to ready a swing, but with the help of his Aura, Ash detected each of the man's attacks before he could maneuver them, allowing Ash to avoid every swing until he grabbed the staff mid-swing and kicked the unsuspecting man down, taking the weapon for himself. The man got it ran towards Ash and the woman, now having recovered her vision, did the same, both of them using close quarters combat on Ash, though he defended himself with the staff. Ash then manifested his Aura into the staff and slammed the weapon to the ground, creating a shockwave that launched his enemies away. He then dropped the staff and started generating an Aura Sphere within his palms. Once the sphere got big enough, Ash fired it towards the two mercenaries, but the man saw it in time and jumped over it, leading the woman to take the hit, sending her back even more as the man leaped towards Ash with his dagger. Ash somersaulted under the man, avoiding the attack, and the man shot two arrows from his bow. Ash used his Aura to detect the arrows' exact direction, allowing him easily catch both, like as if time slowed down for him. Ash then ran towards the man and tried to strike him with the arrows, and the man managed to block the attacks at first, but Ash was able to sense where he wasn't going to block, allowing him to stab the man's left cheek and right side of his stomach with the arrows. The man staggered back in pain, and Ash slammed his palm on the man's chest, stunning him with his Aura. Now with the man completely vulnerable, Ash focused his energy in his right fist and punched straight through the man's torso, leaving a bloody hole as the man fell down, dead. Before Ash could think about what he just done, he detected a stray bullet coming his way and backflipped over it in time and saw the woman pointing her pistol towards him. Ash concentrated his Aura on the gun, engulfing it in the blue energy and causing it to break apart in the woman's hand. She then took out her sword and charged towards Ash while he took a dagger from the man's body, engaging the woman in a sword-on-dagger battle. The two seemed even, blocking and avoiding each other's' strikes until the woman landed a lucky shot on Ash's face, narrowly missing his left eye, but leaving a bloody vertical cut under it. Ignoring the pain, Ash continued to fight back until the woman tried a thrust move where Ash avoided in the nick of time as he edged closer to his opponent. Like if time was slowed down once again, Ash smoothly stabbed the dagger into the woman's gut, causing her to recoil back and scream in pain, dropping her sword in the process. Now with the woman completely vulnerable, Ash grabbed her sword and stabbed it into her chin and out of the top of her skull. Blood leaked down from the sword as the woman fell down dead._

(music stops playing)

 _Ash panted as the Aura surrounding his body died down. The battle was over and he had won and protected himself and his friends from death. Even though he took drastic measures to gain victory, he knew he had no other choice, and thus, wasn't too bothered over the fact he just did he has never done before: ended two lives. Ash felt sick inside, but right now, he was too exhausted to feel anything on the outside. Later, Ash gathered all the unconscious bodies of his Pokemon and used his Aura powers to heal them, though while it wasn't enough to fully rejuvenate them, it at least gave them back to energy to stand up on their feet. The Pokemon then saw the dead bodies of the cruel people who attacked them, as well as their trainer's Aura pulsing from his hands and they all looked at him concerned and curiously. Ash knew what they were thinking, so he told them, "After I saw you guys all defeated, my Aura within suddenly fully activated on itself, and when I used it to fight back against those two," Ash then stared at the two mercenaries, and then back to his Pokemon, "I guess I went a little overboard. Even though I'm happy I was able to protect us all and I guess it's pretty cool that I'm able to use my Aura more than ever now, it's just that, I don't really feel like myself right now." All of Ash's Pokemon gave him comforting cry, reassuring him that it wasn't his fault and they would've done the same thing. Ash smiled at his Pokemon and wrapped them all in a big group hug. "Thanks you guys," He then got back on his feet. "Well, let's continue our way to Pallet Town."_

(plays You Idiot from Undertale)

" _You monsters." said a female voice behind them. Surprised, Ash and his Pokemon turned away to see a lady with long red hair and blue eyes. She wore gold earrings, a blue top followed by a long black skirt, and red heels, and she was glaring at them with tears coming out her eyes. "I saw what you all did; hurting those poor people and then killing them in cold blood! You Aura Guardians are all alike! Just hurting innocent without reason! THEY WERE MY FRIENDS!"_

" _I'm sorry about your friends, but I had no other choice, they attacked us first," Ash argued with his Pokemon agreeing beside him. "And not only that, but they both insulted the heroic legacy of Aura Guardians and I just couldn't let that go by!"_

" _Do you even know what lives are like for people like those two?" the lady asked with a disgusted tone. And with every word from that point on, a dread of guilt filled up within Ash. "Me, my friends, and many other friends have suffered greatly throughout our lives because of people who use Aura. In the past, our ancestors have been killed due to careless Aura Guardian actions, like their intense training, or the wars they get into. But regardless of how many innocent lives they may have taken during their endeavors, they are praised and regarded as heroes by the end, while people like me, people like my family, have nothing to do but try to make up for what we lost. We move away from our destroyed homes and pay our respects to the friends and family we lost, while everyone else in town praises the Aura Guardians for their "heroism," and what makes things even worse, is that they don't even care. They just don't, as with all the power they have and all the praise they're given, they just think they're the best, that they're always right and nothing can get in their way. And then they just run people like me over like dust."_

" _Look, I'm really sorry all of that has happened to you, but I'm not like those kind of Aura Guardians. I'm-"_

" _YES YOU ARE," interrupted the woman, who was now crying. "You could've at least tried to settle things between you and my friends peacefully, you could've just tried to talk to them, you could've just recalled your Pokemon into their Pokeballs so they won't attack, but no! You all just fought back, thinking they, two people you don't even know, two people who you didn't even bother of asking where they came from, were villains! Just like many other Aura Guardians have done in the past!"_

 _Now Ash was feeling completely defenseless as everything she said was true. He did just fight back without even trying to talk things over peacefully. Instead, who just let his Pokemon attack them when they insulted the kind of people Ash has a small pride for. And when Ash activated his Aura himself, he killed them, even though he had the power back then to simply incapacitate them, which would've given him the opportunity to talk things over._

" _My friends were scared," the lady continued on, "in our childhoods, all three of us have lost our families due to Aura Guardians, leaving the three of us to defend for each other! Because of everything we've suffered back then, we feared anyone who could use Aura as you can never trust anyone! And now that they're gone, I have nothing left! You've taken everything that I had left, while you still have your friends, Pokemon, family, and your power!"_

 _Ash and his Pokemon all fell to their knees, crying. Everything the lady was saying was true, especially the fact that they've completely ruined her life now. "I'm... I'm sorry." was all Ash could get out of his mouth right now._

 _The lady didn't listen though, instead, she took out a sword similar to the ones her friends used and walked towards Ash and his Pokemon threateningly, and this time, neither of time tried to defend themselves, as they were all overcome with guilt. "I have every right to kill all of you right now." said the lady. Ash and his Pokemon didn't protest and the lady pointed the sword under Ash's chin. Ash's Pokemon cried out to the lady, begging her to not kill him first as they didn't want to see their beloved trainer die, though Ash just patiently waited for the killing strike._

(music stops playing)

 _Much to his surprise, the lady didn't kill him despite the opportunity she had. She just looked at Ash and into his eyes and said, "However, I still want to prove that people like me are much better people than you Aura Guardians, so I'll just let you all go." She then put her sword away._

" _R-R-Really?"_

" _Yes, but you all must remember this," she then grabbed Ash by his jacked and got close to his face threateningly, "I want you all to run away." This very warning shocked Ash and his Pokemon. The lady continued on, "I never want to see any of you in my life ever again. And if I ever do see you again, or if you were to report me to the authorities, I won't hold back. Not only will I kill you, but I will take away everything you cherish in your life, just as you did to mine." She then dropped Ash to the ground._

 _Ash was speechless. Run away? But where to? ...And how long?_

" _Remember that forever kid, and we won't have a problem ever again." The lady then walked away, disappearing into the forest as the storm continued on._

 _(plays Midna's Lament from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)_

 _Ash remained on the ground for a couple of minutes, not saying a word. His Pokemon were concerned for him and they tried to cry out to get his attention, but Ash just sat still, like if all his emotions and feelings were gone. Pikachu jumped on his lap and yelled, "Pika Pi!" which finally gained Ash's attention._

" _Guys, Pikachu, we really do have to run away." said a saddened Ash._

 _These words coming out of Ash's mouth shocked his Pokemon and they all cried out in a worried protest, trying to assure their trainer they shouldn't listen to the lady._

" _We have no other choice!" Ash screamed out, now crying. "You guys heard her, if she sees us again, she'll kill everyone we love and because of that, we can't stay at home! We'll be out in the public which would risk us of the lady seeing us again, and we'll also be putting a huge worrying burden of the people we love and if someone else tries to go after her, she won't hold back! We HAVE to find somewhere to hide! Some place no one could ever see us again!"_

 _Ash's Pokemon felt crushed seeing their usual optimistic and cheerful trainer in this state. Ash then brought his face down and started crying and his Pokemon joined him, wrapping their bodies around him to protect him from the rain. Ash then got up (slightly stumbling a bit until Greninja and Goodra helped him up) and announced, "We're going to Professor Oak's Lab to get everyone else." Ash's Pokemon nodded in agreement. "Let's go."_

 _And with that, Ash and his Pokemon ran to Oak's Lab, doing their best to avoid being seen in the town. Upon reaching the lab, Ash knocked on the front door and Oak opened it up. While the professor was happy to see Ash again, as well as Pikachu and the new Kalos Pokemon, but he was also confused why Ash would show up on such a stormy night. Ash then explained everything that happened when he and his Pokemon were on their way to Pallet Town from the airport. Enraged, Oak was about to call Officer Jenny to track down the lady for doing such a thing to Ash, but quickly stopped him, telling him what would happen if the lady were to see him again or if he were to report her._

" _And that's why I need to take all my Pokemon with me, so they we can all hide together and everyone we love will be safe." explained Ash._

" _In completely understand Ash, but where you and your Pokemon go?" asked Oak._

 _Ash was wondering that himself. He looked around the lab in thought until he saw a map of both the Kanto and Johto regions on the wall. After a close inspection, Ash finally made his choice. "We'll hide at Mt. Silver."_

 _This shocked Oak. As time passed by, Mt. Silver became a more dangerous place to be at, so dangerous, the people of Silver Town all moved due to constant avalanches and the Silver Conference was moved to town north of Blackthorn City. "Are you sure, Ash? That mountain range has been labeled one of the dangerous areas of our world and many who have gone up there have never came back."_

" _Then it's the perfect place. High up those mountains, we would be far away from everyone and no one would dare try to look for us there."_

 _Oak nodded. Despite the dangers of Mt. Silver, he agreed that it'll be the perfect place to hide and he believed Ash and his Pokemon were capable enough to reach the top, especially with all of them working together. "Very well Ash. Rotom and I will get all your Pokeballs ready. And Ash, while you gather your other Pokemon, I can also heal Pikachu and your other Pokemon at the Healing System."_

" _Thanks professor."_

 _Ash returned his Kalos Pokemon in their Pokeballs and gave them and Pikachu to Professor Oak. Professor Oak and his Rotom went off to heal Ash's Pokemon and retrieve the Pokeballs while Ash went outside to the Oak Corral. Rain was still pouring, though not as bad when they fought those guys from before, and thus, there were no Pokemon in sight as they were hiding under the lakes, trees, and ground of the Corral. The only exception was Bulbasaur who was sleeping on a tree stump close to the lab. He woke up and saw his trainer and ran towards him, happy to see him again. When he reached trainer, he noticed how scratched up and hurt he looked and stared at him worriedly and curiously._

" _I'll explain everything later buddy, I just really need you to call every of my Pokemon right now."_

 _Bulbasaur obediently nodded and fired a Solar Beam firework that was in a color and shape of all the region's different color and shape combined, signifying to Ash's Pokemon that everyone was needed. Within only a few minutes every single of Ash's Pokemon at the lab, from Charizard to Krookodile, arrived. They were all happy to see their trainer, but then grew concerned when they saw him in a hurt condition, as well as some tears falling from his face and a healing scar under his left eye. Ash then explained to them all what happened to him, Pikachu, and his Kalos Pokemon when they were on their way to Pallet Town, that they were attacked because the mercenaries sensed that Ash could use Aura and for killing them, their friend demanded him to run away or else she'll kill everyone he loves. Ash's Pokemon were shocked and saddened by this, especially that they weren't there for Ash when his life was on the line, but they were relieved that Ash and the others were able to make it out alive, though they wanted to hurt the lady for telling such crude things to Ash. When Ash announced he was planning on hiding away to Mt. Silver, many Pokemon were surprised, considering how treacherous the mountain range has become over time. Seeing this, Ash told his Pokemon they don't have to come if they don't want to, as despite everything that has happened, Ash still cares for his Pokemon, always wanting them to make their own decisions instead of forcing them like most trainers do. But no Pokemon hesitated to go with Ash. They all loved their trainer a lot, and wherever he goes, they go. They knew together, they will all get stronger and stronger and they will be able to protect Ash at all costs. Upon seeing none of his Pokemon refusing to go, Ash started crying, thankful to have such caring and loyal Pokemon. Eventually, Professor Oak and his Rotom came in with a cart of all of Ash's Pokeballs, as long with the Pokeballs of Ash's Kalos Pokemon, and Pikachu sitting on top. Pikachu jumped on Ash's shoulder and Ash recalled every single of his Pokemon into their Pokeballs, minus the other 29 Tauros. Ash told them he couldn't possibly handle all of them at Mt. Silver, but he reassured them that he still loves all of them just as he does with the others and they all reassured the same, understanding him and hoping the best. With everyone (except Pikachu) in their Pokeballs, Oak gave Ash a yellow backpack that was bigger than the one he had now to safely keep his Pokeballs in when he traveled and a long brown cloak to protect him from the rain and hide his identity from the public if he were ever to be seen. Oak also gave Ash some potions, berries, and medicines._

 _Putting on the cloak, Ash thanked the professor for his help and was about to make his way out until Oak stopped him for a moment and said, "Ash, I just want you to know that ever since I first met you as one of my students years ago, I always saw huge potential as a trainer in you, even more than my grandson, and now that I've seen you grown and accomplish so much in only one year, I see more than a trainer in you. I see a hero."_

 _Ash smiled at the him. "Thanks Oak, I'll miss you a lot!"_

" _Chu pikachu!" Pikachu nodded in agreement._

" _And don't forget to not tell anyone about this."_

" _Your secret is safe with me and I won't tell anyone, nt even Tracey when he gets back. Right Rotom?"_

" _Ro TOM!" Rotom happily agreed. Rotom and Pikachu then both gave each a small Thunderbolt as their way of saying goodbye._

 _Suddenly Bulbasaur released himself from his Pokeball and ran up to Oak to say goodbye himself._

" _Bulba bulbasaur!"_

" _I'll miss you too, Bulbasaur!"_

" _Professor, are you sure the Corral will okay without Bulbasaur?"_

" _I'm sure it will. Things have been a lot more peaceful since you first sent Bulbasaur to me back during your Johto journey and I'll always have Rotom and Dragonite to help me out if things get out of hand between the Pokemon."_

" _That's great, professor," Ash then recalled Bulbasaur back into his Pokeball, put on the hood of the cloak, and made his way out the lab's door. "Thank you for everything Professor Oak. I hope we see each other again soon. Goodbye." And with that, Ash and Pikachu disappeared into the rainy night as Oak and Rotom waved goodbye to them, hoping them a safe future._

 _Before Ash and Pikachu left Pallet Town, Ash wrote his mom a letter that said:_

 _Dear Mom, I'm sorry for how long you must have waited for me and Pikachu to return home, but sadly, we just can't come back. I'm sorry, but when we were on our way back home from the airport, things just happened, and because of those things, I have to go off to somewhere else with my Pokemon. Please don't worry about us, Mom! Just know that wherever I go, you'll always be in my mind. I won't ever forget you mom and I love you with all my heart. - Ash_

 _Without being noticed, Ash left the letter on the front door, rang the doorbell, and ran away, eventually leaving Pallet Town behind. Forever._

(plays Courage from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)

 _Ash didn't immediately went to Mt. Silver after he left, as there were still some of his Pokemon he had to get back. First, Ash traveled to Viridian Forest to get back his Pidgeot, as the flock he protected now had several other Pidgeot to defend themselves with. He then used his Aura to detect where Squirtle was at the moment, which was Vermillion City. Using Pidgeot (it was too dangerous to use Charizard due to the rain) to fly to the city, Ash met with the Squirtle Squad and the Officer Jenny in charge of them and Ash, not really trusting Jenny to keep secrets from other Jennys, just told her he really needed Squirtle back on his team permanently due to certain complications happening to his life right now and believing him, Jenny allowed Ash to have Squirtle back. When Ash was alone with Squirtle though, he explained the real reason why he needed him back and Squirtle happily insisted on going with him, wanting to protect his trainer. Pidgeot then flew Ash to Anthony and Rebecca's house to get Primeape. Fortunately for Ash, since was only training Primeape, not keeping him, he just gave Primeape back when he arrived, allowing Ash not having to think of lie like he did with Officer Jenny. Next Pokemon to find was Lapras, but when Ash was using his Aura to detect her location, he detected something else: a cry for help. Ash followed where the cry was coming from to find two Team Rocket grunts holding a cage with a trapped Eevee, whom they planned to test painful experiments on to create an Eevee capable of transforming into any of its evolution forms at anytime. Not wanting to have such a poor Pokemon go through such a horrible thing, Ash attacked the grunts with Pikachu and Pidgeot and freed the Eevee from her cage. Thankful, Eevee happily allowed herself to be captured. Ash then detected Lapras's location, which was the shores of New Bark Town with her herd, and when he got there and explained to Lapras why he's gonna need her back on the team, she happily obliged, revealing she was just about to make her apprentice leader soon anyway. Then there was one last Pokemon Ash felt he needed to get before we went to Mt. Silver, and it was a Pokemon that he hasn't even previously own. It was Riolu, and not just any Riolu, but the one he met in Sinnoh, and while Ash never plans to be an Aura Guardian, he felt having Riolu around would help him further explore his Aura power and capabilities. Pidgeot effortlessly flew his trainer to the Sinnoh region, and thanks to his Aura, Ash was able to meet up with Aura Sphere Riolu he met Sinnoh, who was also looking for him when his Aura identified Ash being in the region, closeby to his village. After a sweet reunion, Ash explained to Riolu about what has happened to him recently and what he plans to do now and Riolu happily accepted to join his team after revealing his previous trainer had recently died in his sleep from old age._

 _With many of his old Pokemon back under his belt, Ash went back to the Kanto region and traveled to Mt. Silver, which at this time wasn't off-limits to enter. Starting at the base, Ash and Pikachu crossed the ruined Mt. Silver and after reaching a higher level of terrain, the two came across a pleasant surprise: a Butterfree wearing a yellow scarf. This area of Mt. Silver was where Butterfree and his mate migrated to! Ash, Pikachu, and Butterfree had a tearful reunion and Butterfree eagerly rejoined the team after learning what has been happening lately, and he promised his mate that he'll still visit her and their kids (though nowadays, they reside in the wide mountain with Ash's Pokemon). In the same level of ground, Ash and Pikachu were attacked by a giant Steelix, but the oversized snake was quickly taken down by a Tyranitar. Much to Ash and Pikachu's surprise, after the Steelix was defeated, the Tyranitar ran up to them to hug and lick them. The Tyranitar then kept using Iron Defense, which gave it away that this was the same Larvitar Ash hatched from its egg back at his Johto journey. Tyranitar joyfully joined the team after Ash explained to him what has been going on._

 _Ash Ketchum, with Pikachu on his shoulder and 45 Pokeballs inside his backpack, made his way up Mt. Silver. It was a long and rough endeavor, but with the help of his Pokemon, he was able to reach the very top with no problem._

 _Throughout the years of solitude and seclusion, Ash and his Pokemon trained. Why? If there were ever be a day someone attacks them, they would be ready. More than ready. Not only did all of Ash's Pokemon reached their final evolutionary stages (except Pikachu of course, and Eevee chose to become an Espeon), but all the Pokemon that could Mega Evolve all had their Mega Stones (Charizard even had both the X and Y stones), they were bigger, stronger, faster, etc. than each of their individual species, and they were able to use more than four moves, as well as a variety of unique techniques. Basically, they were all the best they could be. Ash has also trained his Aura to its max, in fact, he was an all-out master of it now. With the power of his Aura, Ash can communicate with his Pokemon and even give commands telepathically. Ash also trained all his Pokemon to use Aura as well and while they (except Lucario) couldn't do certain techniques like throw Aura Spheres, they could still use Aura to detect incoming threats, identify their surroundings within their minds, block deadly attacks, etc. For 8 long years, Ash and his Pokemon stayed at Mt. Silver, only leaving occasionally whenever there was a Pokemon-related crisis going on, though Ash's identity always remained hidden when he was out in public. To the rest of the world, Ash was gone._

(music stops playing)

 **End of flashback**

"And eight years later, we're still here, living our lives of solitude..." Ash emptily muttered to himself.

Pikachu jumped on his lap and cried out for him, causing Ash to snap back to reality. He looked down to his best friend, just remembering he was there, and then looked up at the sky, seeing the night had come without even realizing it.

"Buddy, I told you I'm fine, I was just, y'know, remembering old stuff."

Pikachu gave Ash an unsure and concerned look. "Pika Pi..."

"Nothing's bothering Pikachu, everything's all behind me now. The past is in the past."

Pikachu still gave Ash an unsure and concerned look, knowing there was something wrong. Ash just sighed, placed Pikachu to his side, and got up, only to turn around and see each and every one of his Pokemon staring worriedly at their trainer, also sensing something wrong deep within his mind.

"Guys, I said I'm fine. Come on, it's getting late, let's go to bed."

Ash then made his way back into the mountain crater, walking past his Pokemon who all looked concerned and sympathetic for their trainer. They all knew what he was really feeling, and it wasn't because of their Aura, but because of their bond with him. They knew deep down, despite Ash trying to remain his highly-energized and optimistic self, he was really deeply depressed. For 8 years, Ash has lived away from the ones he loved like his mother, all for their own protection. He was forced to stray away from his life of battling other trainers, meeting new people, exploring cool places, and competing in leagues. He had to give up his dream to become a Pokemon Master. The scar under his left eye was also a forever reminder of how it all started. Ash tries to hide it from his Pokemon so they won't have to worry about him. While Ash's Pokemon also miss their old lives of battling others and traveling the world, what they miss the most was a genuine smile from their trainer, not one that was forced and clouded by hidden sadness, but they knew just as much as their trainer that going back would only prove to be a danger for others. Overall, they just want to always be there for Ash, to always protect him, to always fight for him. That's why they train for him, not to be strong, but to defend Ash.

(plays Family from Super Mario Galaxy)

Inside the crater, Ash entered his cave and lied down on his bed of leaves. After letting out a sigh, Ash tried to fall asleep, but he just couldn't as the dark memories still fogged up inside his mind.

" _What's happened has happened. It's all over. Go to sleep. This is your life now._ " Ash mentally told himself, trying to get himself to sleep, but to no avail.

Pikachu then entered the cave and curled up against Ash's chest. Ash and Pikachu always slept with each other, but this night was different as Pikachu knew of the inner struggles Ash was going through right now. And Ash knew that he knew.

"Pikachu," Ash said, trying to hold back some tears, "how many times do I have to tell you? The past no longer bothers me, I'm fi-"

But before he could finish, Ash then saw the rest of his Pokemon enter his cave and they all curled around their trainer too, wanting to sleep with him for the night. They all deeply cared for Ash and wanted to let him know that they share his pain, but regardless, they will always have each other, so they'll never be alone.

"Please, guys, you don't have to do this," Ash said as more tears poured from his eyes. "The past is totally behind me. Really. Nothing's bothering me right now."

Ash's Pokemon only snuggled closer to their trainer, with the ones closer to his face giving him comforting licks.

Unable to hold anything back now, Ash cried out to his friends as tears now streamed down his face, "Why won't any of you listen? I'M FINE! (sniff) I-I'm fine..."

Ash then looked at the faces of all his Pokemon. Not only they were crying with him, but they all had a comforting smile, reassuring their trainer that they will always be there for him, they will always understand, they will protect him from harm, and they will always love him.

Ash now smiled back at his Pokemon. "Guess I can't hide anything from you guys."

He should've known. There's nothing he can hide from his Pokemon, the ones who dedicate their lives to be by his side thick-and-through. Feeling their love and dedication, the dark thoughts that prevented Ash from sleeping started to drift away.

"Heh, I really am a stubborn fool. I tried to keep stuff away from you guys, but I guess it was more obvious than I thought," Ash then started to finally drift to sleep. "Everyone, thank you. Thank you for always staying by my side, no matter how many stupid decisions I make in life. I couldn't ever ask for better Pokemon than you all, and also, you guys are more than just Pokemon. You all are my friends, my family. I love you all with all my heart."

All the Pokemon happily cried out, saying they love their trainer too.

"Thanks guys. Now, let's all get some sleep."

With tears still falling from their closed eyes, Ash and his Pokemon all fell asleep, happy and content that despite everything that has happened in their lives so far, they still had each other. Ash loves his Pokemon, and they love him. And right now, just being together was all they could ask for.

Ash, Pikachu, Butterfree, Pidgeot, Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Kingler, Primeape, Muk, Tauros, Lapras, Snorlax, Heracross, Meganium, Typhlosion, Feraligatr, Noctowl, Donphan, Tyranitar, Swellow, Sceptile, Crawdaunt, Torkoal, Glalie, Staraptor, Torterra, Infernape, Floatzel, Gliscor, Garchomp, Unfezant, Samurott, Emboar, Serperior, Scrafty, Leavanny, Seismitoad, Gigalith, Krookodile, Greninja, Talonflame, Hawlucha, Goodra, Noivern, Espeon, & Lucario. - One big family that could never be broken.

* * *

Whew, that was a lot to type. So much exposition to cover and form together, along with all the fights, the part of Ash running away and getting all his Pokemon, yikes. But hey, it was fun.

Poor Ash, having to go through all of that just for something he was born with. (but remember, the flashback was in Ash's perspective, not anyone else's)

I also want to clarify that only Ash has a scar from his fight with those anti-aura people. Pikachu and the Kalos Pokemon, while they too got hurt a lot in the fight, were left with no scars or any permanent marks what-so-ever.

In case the depiction for the crater Ash lived in does not make too much sense or didn't give a lot of info, I generally picture to be just like the inside of Mt. Quena from Mewtwo Returns, only a lot bigger, more vibrant in foliage and water, and the ceiling being open due to it being a crater.

Once again, please leave a review if you to give certain advice on something that you've seen that needs to be improved on, or if you just want to send me your general thoughts. Feel free to ask questions too, though I will only answer them if they won't give away spoilers for later chapters. All greatly appreciated and a huge thank you for all the positive reviews for the prologue. I was honestly surprised to see how much good reception the prologue got, so thank you all and I love the support! You all rock!


	3. Chapter 2 - Enter Serena

And now here's Chapter 2 of the story, Enter Serena. Much like the last chapter, some of the content is just how I currently feel the XY and Z series will go through, so might have to change some dialogue once the actual episodes are released, but like I've said before, it won't really change anything to the overall fanfic. And if you don't want to risk being spoiled of the XY and Z series, read at your own risk. Without further ado, please enjoy!

* * *

(plays [Event] Is It Right... from Sonic the Hedgehog 2006)

On the piers of Ambrette Town of the Kalos Region sat an 18-year old girl. She had blonde hair in a short haircut with a pink-red fedora with a black hatband. She wore an outfit quite similar to the one she wore throughout her first journey 8 years ago, though there were a few differences. The pink dress she wore has longer sleeves that extend to her elbows, the red vest is shorter, reaching down to her hips rather than her thighs, and her brown boots were also a bit bigger. One thing that was most definitely kept was a blue ribbon tied at the collar of her dress, as it was very special to her. This girl's name is Serena.

Sitting on the edge of a dock, Serena was looking off towards the deep blue sea, remembering the journey she went on 8 years ago, most specifically how it ended.

 **Flashback 8 years ago**

(plays Last Look at Rogueport from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year-Door)

 _At the airport of Lumiose City, Ash, Pikachu, and the rest of Ash's Kalos Pokemon were saying their goodbyes to Serena, Clemont, Bonnie, and their Pokemon, as now that the Kalos League was, by technical means, over and Team Flare has been defeated once-and-for-all, their journey has sadly come to an end._

" _Well guys," said Ash, "looks like this is goodbye."_

" _Looks like it is." said Clemont._

 _Bonnie, who was on the verge of crying, ran up to Ash and hugged him, saying, "Oh Ash! I'll miss you so much! Please visit whenever you and Pikachu can, and bring other Pokemon too!"_

 _As she was saying that, Dedenne jumped out of Bonnie's satchel and ran to Pikachu to hug him goodbye, and much like his trainer, he was also crying. Pikachu happily hugged him back and the two shared one more electrical nuzzle before Dedenne returned to the satchel._

 _As Bonnie was hugging him, Ash returned the hug and said, "Don't worry Bonnie, Pikachu and I will definitely visit you again soon. And hey, once you're old enough to become a Pokemon Trainer yourself, you can definitely challenge us to a battle. Right Pikachu?"_

 _Pikachu jumped on his trainer's right shoulder and excitedly replied, "Pika pika!"_

 _Overjoyed on hearing this, Bonnie replied, "Really?! THANK YOU ASH!" Bonnie then wiped the tears from her face and walked back to her brother's side. "But just remember Ash, on that day where I challenge you to a battle, Dedenne and I will be ready!"_

 _Dedenne happily cried out after Bonnie said that, agreeing with her._

 _Clemont then walked to Ash and the two shook hands._

" _Ash, it's been a pleasure getting to travel around with you."_

" _You too Clemont, and all your inventions were all amazing and I know they'll keep on getting even better and better!"_

 _Hearing this caused Clemont to nervously chuckle. "I sure hope so too."_

" _Don't worry brother, I'll be there to help clean up the mess when they explode!" Bonnie teasingly insisted, much to Clemont's annoyance. "Oh, and Ash, I almost forgot to ask you something."_

" _What is it Bonnie?"_

" _Once I find my brother a good keeper, can you be the Best Man for him at his wedding?"_

" _BONNIE, STOP!" Clemont yelled at he activated his Aipom Arm to cover his sister's mouth._

 _Amused, Ash let out a chuckle._

 _During all of this though, Serena was silent. She just couldn't believe that the adventure was finally over, and Ash was leaving her again. She was devastated, though she tried to hide it from her friends. She hadn't felt like this ever since she and her mom were leaving the Kanto region when she was younger, but at least this time, she gets to have a proper goodbye with Ash. She then saw Ash walking towards her, so she quickly snapped back to reality, not letting her sad thoughts control her._

" _Serena, it was really great traveling with you." Ash said, holding his hand out for a handshake._

 _Blushing a bit, Serena shook Ash's hand and replied, "It's been great traveling with you too, Ash."_

" _Hey Serena, after I leave, what are you gonna do now? I know Clemont is going back to his gym and Bonnie's gonna prepare for when she becomes a trainer, but what about you?"_

" _Well, Aria's teacher, Palermo, offered to mentor me to help me achieve my dream of becoming Kalos Queen after the Gloire Showcase. I turned it down back then because I still wanted to keep traveling with you guys, but I promised once the journey was over, I'd go back to her."_

" _That's awesome, Serena! That means you're only getting closer and closer to fulfilling your dream!"_

" _Yeah..." Serena silently replied. While she has excited to learn under Palermo, deep down, she still wanted to be with Ash. She looked down and noticed Bonnie giving her a look that said, "What are you waiting for? Tell him already!" Serena turned to her Pokemon, who were also giving her the exact same look in their own way._

" _And once you're performing at the Gloire Showcase again, you know I'll be there, cheering you on!"_

" _Th-thanks. Hey Ash, there's something I've been always wanting to tell you."_

" _Oh, what is it?"_

" _It's just that I... I..."_

" _Yes?"_

" _I... I..." Serena tried her best to say the words, but she just couldn't get them out. "I... I... I...!"_

 _Bonnie, Braixen, Pancham, and Sylveon all looked excited. They thought Serena was finally going to admit her true feelings to Ash, but what came next surprised them._

 _Crying a bit, Serena hugged Ash and said, "I'll miss you a lot Ash!"_

 _In her mind, Serena was yelling to herself, "YOU IDIOT! THIS IS YOUR PERFECT CHANCE AND NOW YOU'RE JUST WASTING IT! GET MY HANDS OFF HIM AND JUST TELL HIM ALREADY!" Serena tried to do just that, but she couldn't. It was just that, Serena is afraid that Ash might not return her feelings._

 _Braixen let out a sigh, disappointed in her trainer for not revealing to Ash her love for him. She then walked towards Greninja, who let out his right arm for a goodbye handshake. Instead of returning the handshake, Braixen wrapped Greninja in a big hug, causing him to blush and become frozen in shock. Seeing this, Braixen giggled and returned back to her trainer as Ash's other Pokemon went up to the stunned Greninja, asking him what's wrong, but the response he gave out was a collapse to the ground, surprising them._

 _Meanwhile, Ash hugged Serena back and said, "Serena, I'll miss you too. But don't forget, no matter how far away we are, we'll always be great friends, and nothing could ever change that! And like I said before, I'll see you soon once you perform at the Gloire Showcase again, which I know you'll win and become Kalos Queen! I believe in you!"_

" _Thank you so much," Serena then let go of Ash and faced him, trying her best not to blush again. "Ash, you promise you'll be there?"_

" _Of course! There's nothing in the world that'll stop me!"_

" _Alright, then I'll see you there! And I promise I'll win, cause I won't give up until it's over!"_

" _Yeah! That's the spirit!"_

 _The two high fived. In her mind, Serena was still yelling at herself for not confessing her feelings for Ash at this moment, but now that he told he'll be that at the Gloire Showcase when she performs there again, she felt that would be the perfect time to finally confess, as by then, they'll be a little older and Ash would hopefully be able to notice her feelings and return them._

 _A flight attendant then appeared towards the group and told Ash the plane would be leaving soon, so he has to get on now._

" _Aw man, already? I better get going then," Ash then turned to his Pokemon. "Well, are you guys ready to-" Ash stopped himself when he noticed his Greninja on the ground, knocked out, with his face completely red. The other Pokemon were staring down at him worried, trying to ask him what's wrong, though the frog ninja could not reply. "Hm, guess he's not a fan of planes." Ash took out everyone's Pokeballs and recalled them all as Pikachu jumped back on his shoulder. Before Greninja was recalled, he tried to use Thunderbolt to wake him back up, but not even that worked. Ash and Pikachu then started running to their plane, waving goodbye to their Kalos friends in the process as they waved back._

" _Goodbye guys! Thanks to all of you for the amazing journey!"_

" _Pika pika!"_

" _You too Ash!" All three of them yelled back._

 _Ash and Pikachu entered the plane and after a few minutes, it rose from the ground and took off for the Kanto region._

 _Serena watched the plane fly off to the distance with a content, knowing she's going to see Ash again pretty soon._

 _Unfortunately for Serena, that moment was actually the last time she ever saw Ash._

(plays Moment Lost from Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo OST)

 _After Ash left Kalos, Serena parted ways with Clemont and Bonnie and returned to Vaniville Town so that she could reunite with her mom, Grace, and just have a relaxing break from the journey before she goes to Palermo as her student. But two days after Ash left, Serena received the worst news of her life: Ash has disappeared._

 _On that day, Serena was about to go outside to play with her Pokemon until she saw her mother on the phone, apparently talking with Ash's mom, Delia Ketchum. When Grace got off the phone, Serena immediately asked her what she and Delia were talking about, having to have overheard Delia asking about Ash. Grace reluctantly told her daughter that two days ago, Delia found a letter in front of her door during a stormy night, and it was from her son, saying that he couldn't return home, not giving a reason why. On the phone, Delia was asking her if Ash was going through anything emotionally before he left Kalos, but since Grace wasn't at the airport, she didn't know and told her she'll ask her daughter. Upon asking her , Serena assured her that Ash was perfectly fine when they parted ways. He was his normal happy-go-lucky self. Grace went back on the phone to tell Delia this while Serena walked outside with her mind all fogged up with confusion and anxiety._

 _Why would Ash disappear without even telling his mom why? Was he really depressed from losing his chance to win the Lumiose Conference when he was so close? It couldn't be as he always puts others before stuff like that and that's why he immediately went out to stop Team Flare when their plan was revealed. Did Team Rocket steal Pikachu on his way home and managed to get away? That couldn't be true either as not only does Ash has 5 other Pokemon to save Pikachu, but that darn trio never wins._

 _Why did he run away? Why wouldn't he tell his own mom? And where is he now?_

 _Wanting to figure out anything she can, Serena went over to Lumiose City to ask Clemont and Bonnie. While they both also heard of the news of Ash disappearing, neither of them knew what became of him as just like Serena, they haven't heard anything from him since he left two days ago. But Serena didn't stop there. She wanted to know where Ash was, she wanted to make sure he's at least safe, she wanted to see him again, and with all that as her new first priority, Serena called Palermo to tell her she is going to have to be her student at a later time as she wanted to find Ash. Fortunately, Palermo understood her, telling her to take her time._

 _Determined to find Ash, Serena went over to the Kanto Region with her Pokemon. Over there, she also learned that Ash's Pokemon have also disappeared from Professor Oak's Lab, with the only ones remaining were 29 stampeding Tauros. Many people, including Serena herself, had asked Oak what became of them, but he said so himself that he doesn't know how they all disappeared. He even called an Officer Jenny to investigate, but not even she could determine how all of Ash's Pokemon mysteriously disappeared, along with all their Pokeballs too. Serena spent an entire year in the Kanto region searching for Ash, meeting Misty, Brock, and Tracey in the process, who all helped out in her search, but to no avail._

 _Serena didn't stop at Kanto though, as she and her Pokemon also searched far and wide in the Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and the Unova regions, also spending a year each in every region, but even though she had the help of every one of Ash's past traveling companions, there still wasn't a single sign of Ash. Some of the traveling companions even stopped helping mid-search, either thinking there was no hope in searching, Ash just wants to be alone with his Pokemon and they should respect that, Ash might have died and his Pokemon ran away out of grief, Ash is just training away at a far-off place and will return later, or Ash is pretending to be missing as a prank, so they shouldn't give him the attention. Serena didn't believe any of that. Despite everyone's indications, there was nothing to prove any of them were right. She just knew Ash was still some place somewhere. When Serena returned to Kalos at age 16, that was when her friends and family insisted her to take a break from her search, telling she's just gonna overly tire out herself and her Pokemon, and while she want reluctant to comply at first, she eventually did, knowing Ash wouldn't want her to stray away from the friends she still has and exhaust herself and her Pokemon just for him._

 **Flashback ends**

Serena sighed to herself, remembering how obsessive she was to find Ash during those first six years after his disappearance. In a way, she herself almost disappeared from her friends, but luckily, she was able to set her mind straight to take things easy. Continuing to stare off into the ocean, she soon heard the cries of Pokemon from behind, causing her to turn around and see her beloved and precious Pokemon running towards her.

First, of course, was her starter, the bipedal fire/psychic fox, Delphox. Braixen had evolved into Delphox during Serena's search for Ash in the Kanto region. Delphox was just as sweet and beautiful as ever and her bond with her trainer had just grown stronger and stronger throughout the years. She also still had the magical stick with a red bow that was given to her by Pancham when the old one broke during a training session.

Next was the sunglasses-wearing fighting/dark panda, Pangoro. Pancham evolved into Pangoro during Serena's search in the Orange Islands in order to defend his trainer and teammates from some rampaging giant Pokemon, and with that new evolution came new strength and muscles that Pangoro likes to pride over himself at times, but he's still very loyal to his trainer and despite his evolution, he's still as bratty as he was as a Pancham.

Up next was the small fairy Eeveelution, Sylveon. Throughout the years, Sylveon has became much more beautiful to the point that almost every male Pokemon that see her instantly run up to her with a large bouquet of flowers, though she always politely turns them down, as she is more interested in Clemont's Bunnelby, who has evolved into Diggersby. Now that the two Pokemon were older, their relationship has become a lot more due to Diggersby now returning Sylveon's feelings.

Delphox, Pangoro, and Sylveon weren't the only Pokemon she had on her team. During her 6 years of searching for Ash, she had also caught 3 more Pokemon.

One of them was as female Absol, whom she caught during her search in the Hoenn region. Serena found Absol in Petalburg Woods where she was battling a female Houndoom to prevent it from causing a forest fire as being a natural disaster Pokemon, Absol predicted Houndoom of doing that, though the canine was not too pleased of being accused of causing a disaster, so she fought Absol. In the end, Houndoom ended up winning, critically injuring and burning Absol while accidentally setting some trees on fire just as Absol predicted. Fortunately, Serena had Sylveon use Fairy Wind to put out the fire to prevent any more chaos and after healing Absol's Burn with some Rawst Berries, Serena brought Absol to the closest Pokemon Center to restore her back to full health. When Absol was completely healed, the Houndoom apologized to her and Absol, thankful to Serena for doing all that for her, allowed herself to be captured. While Absol is a strong fighter, she is also great at performing too, with moves like Psycho Cut and Razor Wind doing a great job in showing her beauty and elegance.

The next new Pokemon on Serena's team was a male Walrein. Much like Absol, Serena caught him at the Hoenn region. Serena first met Walrein as a Sealeo at Izabe Island, where it was being taken cared of by the Nurse Joy. According to Nurse Joy, Sealeo used to be a part of a pack of its evolution chain that lives around the island and he had always dreamed of being the pack leader since it was a Spheal, but sadly, when the time came for the pack to decide its new leader, Sealeo lost after being defeated in a battle by a bigger Sealeo. Devastated of failing his dream, Sealeo ran away from his pack and out of shame, Sealeo kept hurting himself with his own Ice Ball attack. Nurse Joy soon found him and brought him to her Pokemon Center, where he wouldn't be able to hurt himself anymore due to the watchful eyes of the Center's Chansey. Upon learning his backstory, Serena comforted the Sealeo herself, feeding him Pokepuffs, entertaining him with Pokemon Performances, and telling him "Don't give up until it's over." Touched by her kindness, Sealeo decided to leave his life with his pack behind forever and join Serena's team, doing so by instantly rushing towards a Pokeball that Serena had accidentally dropped, capturing him in the process. Sealeo eventually evolved into Walrein to save Serena from drowning when she had fell off a ferry she was on. Walrein is very protective of his trainer, willing to attack anyone he feels is a threat to her. He is also a very powerful battler and a great performer, especially when he uses moves like Waterfall or Sheer Cold.

The very last Pokemon on Serena's team was a female Charizard wearing a pink bow. She also has a nickname: Charla. In Serena's journey in the Johto region, Serena came across a valley full of Charizard called Charicific Valley, where it was being watched over by Charla's original trainer, Liza. Learning from Ash's friends that Ash used to keep his Charizard there, Serena asked Liza if she knew anything of Ash's whereabouts, but unfortunately, she didn't know anything. Liza though, seeing how determined Serena is to find Ash and how much Charla misses Ash's Charizard, decided it would be best if Charla were to go with Serena instead. Both Serena and Charla were surprised at this, but Liza assured that since Ash is missing and Charizard is probably with Ash, then they would be a great team. Charla instantly proved herself to be a very valuable member of the team. Not only is she the powerhouse of the team due to her many years of training in the Charicific Valley, but she can also fly Serena to anywhere she wants without any trouble. Charla also instantly became best friends with Delphox as the both of them are female fire-type starters in their final evolution stage. Charla didn't really like Pokemon Performing at first since she saw it as a little too girly, but eventually came to enjoy it too like her teammates, though she still prefers battling overall.

Serena smiled happily as her Pokemon affectionately snuggled around her. She couldn't be more thankful to be blessed with such a loyal group of Pokemon. Not only do they do their very best for her in performances or battles, but even how obsessive and reckless she got during those 6 years of searching everywhere for Ash, her Pokemon didn't give up on her, they did whatever they could to help their trainer find Ash, and even though Serena still feels guilty for having her Pokemon go through so much for her, they still love her anyways. And she will always love them. She then started to remember her greatest memory with her Pokemon: the Gloire Showcase Master Class last year. For all the teamwork, effort, and love they shared throughout that moment, how could Serena ever forget. Serena stared back towards the wide ocean, remembering that special day.

(music stops playing)

 **Flashback 1 year ago**

 _This is it. It's finally time. Serena was participating in the Gloire Showcase Master Class like she did 7 years ago, and much like before, she has made it to the finals and is facing off against the current Kalos Queen, Aria, who is defending her title. Prior to the Gloire Showcase, Serena spent an entire year learning under Palermo about the true traits and secrets of a Kalos Queen, just as she did with Aria before her. Now with her past experiences and Palermo's teachings, Serena was able to win her three Princess Keys with no problem._

 _At the Gloire Showcase, Serena used Charla for the first Freestyle Round, giving the audience a dazzling aerial fire dance. In the second Freestyle Round, Serena used Absol and Walrein to create perfect beautiful ice sculptures combining Walrein's Sheer Cold and Absol's Razor Wind. In the process of all this, Serena defeated her friends, Shauna, Miette, and Nini, though none of them didn't really mind as they were just happy to see Serena perform again after she returned from her 6-year quest for her crush. And now, it was time for the final Freestyle Round, which would determine whether if Serena would become Kalos Queen, or Aria would keep her title. For this round, Aria was using her three signature Pokemon, Delphox, Aromatisse, and Vivillon, while Serena decided to use her full team, as that way, whether they win and lose, they'll still be together. On top of the royal-esque staircases on the stage were Serena and Aria on opposite sides with their Pokemon, all dressed in lovely attire. Monsieur Pierre had just finished introducing them and Serena and her Pokemon made their way down to the center of the stage. With the spotlights on them, it was time. Not to just give it everything they got, but to have fun! It's time to have a fun time!_

(plays Fly Me to the Moon (∞ Climax Mix) from Bayonetta)

 _Starting off the performance, Serena twirled Sylveon into the air where she fired a Moonblast above her. During this maneuver, Delphox and Charla went to the opposite sides of the stage and used Mystical Fire and Flamethrower towards the airborne sphere of Moonblast, creating a beautiful sparkly explosion. As Serena, Pangoro, Absol, and Walrein danced under the showering sparkles, Sylveon, who was still in the air, latched her feelers on Serena's stretched-out arms and brought her trainer high in the air with her. As they started descending back down, Serena and Sylveon joyfully spun around with Serena holding Sylveon's feelers as the intertwining Pokemon used Fairy Wind to create a lovely effect around them. Down below, Walrein used Sheer Cold to cover the entire stage with a thick layer of ice. Pangoro skated around until he jumped up and caught his trainer in his arms and Sylveon gracefully landed on his head, finishing Fairy Wind by spreading her feelers out, forming a beautiful sparkly cloud all around. They were not done yet though. With excellent and careful precision and timing, Sylveon jumped off Pangoro's head and Delphox threw her branch over to Serena, who backflipped out of Pangoro's arms in time to catch it and mount on Walrein who leaped over Pangoro after Serena's backflip. Now riding on Walrein who was sliding around the icy stage, Serena used Delphox's branch to send many fireballs up to the air in a horizontal arch formation and Absol used Razor Wind as a boomerang to destroy all of them, creating even more dazzling explosions. Serena then had Charla use her powerful Flamethrower on the branch, allowing Serena to create an ever larger flame that was in the shape of a heart. As the giant fiery heart levitated high above center-stage, Absol had Pangoro throw her to the air so that she can reach above the heart's upper-right corner. From where she was, Absol launched a Psycho Cut through the flaming heart, making it look like that Cupid's arrow had pierced a heart once the attack had completely gone through the lovely display._

 _Walrein then slid below the heart and used Brine on it, turning the fire into a large cloud of steam, though still keeping the image of an arrow going through a heart. The steam started descending to the ground and Sylveon used Fairy Wind on it as soon it hit the ice to clear out all the steam, revealing Delphox and Pangoro doing a cute ice skating ballet with each other. During the ballet, Pangoro dance lifted Delphox and as the fox was being held in the air, Walrein, with Serena still on his back, jumped over the dancing duo, spinning around in the process, and Serena skillfully threw Delphox's branch back in her hands. Pangoro then twirled Delphox around until he threw her up to the air as she performed a number of marvelous tricks with her branch before Pangoro used Stone Edge to create 7 large stone pillars on the stage in an upside-down V formation. With a majestic somersault, Delphox safely landed on the middle pillar where she used Light Screen to create a large number of horizontal psychic shields inside the V for her trainer and teammates to use to reach the top of the other pillars. Instead of just regularly jumping from one shield to another, Serena and her team reached the tops by gracefully jumping to shields that were more apart from each other, that way, they could perform more tricks like Sylveon somersaulting to one shield, land on her feelers, and then use them to bounce to the next shield. Absol even winked to the audience for a split second as she was making her way to the top. When Serena reached the middle pillar where Delphox was, the fox Pokemon majestically side flipped to the pillar left of it while also combining all the Light Screen shields into one that hovered just a little below the tops of the stone pillars. Now that Serena and her team were all on top of a pillar, from the audience perspective, going from left to right, it was Absol, Pangoro, Delphox, Serena, Charla, Walrein, and Sylveon._

 _Serena smiled to her Pokemon. It was time for the big finish. Serena pointed up, cueing her Pokemon to fire up attacks above the Light Screen. And with that, a combination of Razor Wind, Dark Pulse, Mystical Fire, Flamethrower, Ice Beam, and Swift was met above the psychic shield, forming a giant energy sphere that dropped onto the Light Screen, destroying it, sending a large number of dazzling sparkles everywhere, more than any of the previous sparkle explosions from before, and then after a combination of Fairy Wind and Dark Pulse, Serena and her Pokemon jumped off the stone pillars and used the currents of Fairy Wind to go through the Dark Pulse like hoops as a large amount of sparkles showered around them. Once both attacks cleared up, the whole team formed together as they started falling to the ground. As they fell, Delphox used one last Mystical Fire to create a gorgeous fiery loop around them that extended down to the icy center-stage floor, creating a cloud of smoke. Once the smoke cleared up, it revealed Serena and her team doing their final pose. From left to right, Pangoro had Delphox in his arms, Sylveon, giving the audience a wink, was on Walrein's back, Serena was behind them, and Charla was flexing her right muscle as Absol stood tall and proud in front of her. Serena twirled at her spot and brought her right hand to the air, bringing their performance to a close._

" _Finish, yeah!"_

(music stops playing)

 _The audience erupted in a glorious round of applause. It was one of most beautiful and nicely done Pokemon Showcase Performances they have ever seen. Serena held her pose as she started panting a little, though while she generally looked exhausted, she really had the time of her life by being able to put on a fabulous show with her beloved Pokemon and she knew her team felt the same thing. They didn't really care about winning, they were just glad they were able to have a fun time while making the people watching them smile, just as Palermo had taught them._

 _Serena and her Pokemon left the stage for Aria and her team to perform. After they were done with their wonderful performance (which Serena had to admit, was actually even more beautiful than the last one she saw Aria do 8 years ago), it was now time for the audience to vote. Serena and Aria stood anticipatively on center-stage as Monsieur Pierre told everyone to take out their glowcasters to cast their vote. In just a small moment later, an uncountable number of glowcasters were raised up high, causing many small purple and green balls of light to emerge out and fill up the keyhole-shaped gauges above Serena and Aria, with the purple representing Serena and the green, Aria. Once the voting process was done, all lights went out with the exception of two spotlights shining on Serena, Aria, and their Pokemon._

" _The revered title of Kalos Queen belongs to..."_

 _More spotlights suddenly lighted up and shined on Serena._

" _Performer Serena! The new Kalos Queen is Serena of Vaniville Town!"_

(plays Kamiki Festival from Okami)

 _And the audience erupted in an ever louder cheer than before. The two gauges brightened, showing that Serena's was two meters higher than Aria's._

 _Serena was speechless. This can't be real._

" _Klefti, her tiara please!"_

 _On cue, Pierre's Klefti hovered over Serena' head and carefully the Kalos Queen tiara on top. Seeing the tiara on her head caused tears to start forming in Serena's eyes. This is real. She did it. She had accomplished her dream._

 _Serena looked around the audience to see Clemont, Bonnie, Dedenne, Diggersby, and Chesnaught stand up from their seats to loudly cheer for their friend. She then saw her mother a few rows away doing the same thing, with tears of joy falling down from her eyes. She even saw Palermo at the back to see a proud smile across her. Serena's Pokemon were also excited on their victory. Pangoro struck a pose for the audience, dropping Delphox in the process, but she didn't mind as she was quickly helped back to her feet by Sylveon._

 _Smiling at all her Pokemon, Serena gratefully whispered to them, "Thank you." The team then all joined hands to bowed together to the audience as they continued to applaud them._

 _After their bow, Serena was then engulfed in a hug from Aria, who joyfully told Serena how proud she is of her and Serena hugged her back, thanking her for inspiring and believing in her. Serena was then wrapped in hugs by her friends, Shauna, Miette, and Nini, who were also extremely proud of Serena for being able to become Kalos Queen. Pierre then started directing everyone to head to the back of the Gloire Showcase for the ending celebration of a new Kalos Queen. Before Serena went away, she turned around a gave the audience one last glance, remembering that Ash wasn't there, and thus, didn't see her win. She sniffled a little, but knowing that she shouldn't that one thought ruin this special day, Serena instantly regained her smile and made her way to the back to celebrate her achievement. The rest of the day was nothing but happiness and cheer; Serena achieved her dream and made her mom and friends proud. From that point on in Serena's life, nothing really changed except that she was constantly bombarded by fans for the first few weeks after the showcase until Aria helped her make a disguised alter-ego for herself just like she did when she was Kalos Queen before her. Serena's alter-ego was called Serylah. Other then that, Serena became a star among the Kalos region, with people always excited to her and her Pokemon perform with their talent, elegance, and grace. And she was able to make this all happen by not giving up until it was over._

(music stops playing)

 **End of Flashback**

Serena happily sighed remembering that special day. She then look at her Pokemon around her and wrapped them all in a big hug, knowing that she could have never become Kalos Queen without their love and dedication. She absolutely loved and cherished them all. When she was done hugging them, Serena looked off towards the wide ocean again.

" _If only you were there though,"_ Serena said in her mind, " _Ash, where are you?_ "

Sensing her trainer feeling down, Sylveon placed her paw on her knee, asking her what's wrong. Serena noticed the small Pokemon and petted her head, saying, "I'm fine Sylveon, thanks for asking. I was just thinking of Ash again."

All her Pokemon understood Serena's feelings Ash. Not only do they knew of her crush for him, but the ones who also knew Ash miss him too, along with his Pokemon. Delphox and Charla especially missed Greninja and Charizard respectively. Before they could think about the missing trainer anymore, they all heard a familiar female voice behind them.

"Serena! Hey Serena! I have something to tell you!"

This voice belonged to Bonnie, who had grown into a 15-year old trainer. In her satchel popped Dedenne who also called for their friends.

"Bonnie, shush," yelled Serena in a hushed manner, "you know you shouldn't yell out my name like that in public, or else my fans could hear you and storm me again!"

"Yeesh, sorry. But why are you out here without your disguise anyway?"

"No one else was here when I came and I just wanted to relax with my Pokemon without that stupid tight disguise."

"Oh, okay. Well, anyway, Clemont just got a new challenger, and I heard he's really good, so I thought you would want to see the battle."

Serena giggled and said, "Sure. Sounds like an interesting match," she then recalled all her Pokemon back into their Pokeballs except for Charla. "We can fly to the Prism Tower with Charla."

"Awwwww, but I wanted to use-"

"Nope," Serena teasingly cutted Bonnie off, "we're using Charla."

Bonnie huffed, but accepted it. The two really have become close sisters throughout the years.

Serena turned to Charla and asked, "You ready, girl?"

(plays Gusty Garden Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy)

In reply, Charla excitedly roared out and lowered her back for Serena and Bonnie to get on. With a mighty flap of her wings, Charla took off towards the Prism Tower of Lumiose City.

"So Serena, what were you and your Pokemon doing at the beach anyway?"

"Oh, just having a good time. Perfect weather after all." lied Serena. In reality, while she did have her Pokemon play around, the real reason Serena came to the beach is to have a quiet place to think about Ash. She didn't want Bonnie to know because she preferred not having her friends think she was becoming too obsessed of looking for him again.

"You were thinking about Ash again. That's really why you came there, right?"

Welp. So much for secrets.

"N-No! Wh-What makes you think that?! You know as well as I do that-" Serena then saw Bonnie giving her a look that said "Give up. I already know." causing Serena to concede. "Okay, you're right, but how did you know?"

"Serena, I was like the only one in the gang who knew you had a crush on Ash besides your Pokemon. And 8 years later, now there's nothing you can hide from me."

Serena sighed. She was right. The two really are close as sisters.

"Don't worry Serena, I won't tell anyone that you still think about Ash. Right now, I just wanna see Clemont's battle with his new challenger!"

Serena nodded. Now was the time to think of the friends she still has around. "You're right! Let's go see us an awesome battle!"

"Yeah!"

Charla happily roared and continued to make her way to the Prism Tower as it came closer in view. Even though Serena has never seen the new challenger herself, for some reason, she just felt so excited to see their battle against Clemont. And she couldn't wait either.

* * *

Chapter 2: done. I apologize if this chapter seemed either too short or too less action-packed than Chapter 1 or the Prologue, but I promise the next chapter will bring back some action as Clemont's new challenger will be introduced and they will battle him. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Thanks for reading, thanks to everyone for the sweet reviews, and don't forget to leave a review if you want to give me advice, criticism, ideas for stuff like music choices, or your general thoughts. Thanks to you all and remember, everyone is awesome in their own way! Ciao!


	4. Chapter 3 - A New Challenger Approaches

And another one done, and another one done, another chapter bites the dust. In this chapter, we will now meet Clemont's new challenger! OOOOOOO! Hope you all enjoy!

* * *

(plays Lumiose City from Pokemon (Anime))

Arriving at Lumiose City, Serena saw Clemont in front of the Prism Tower, so she signaled Charla to land towards him by pointing down.

Hearing a roar from above, Clemont looked up to see Charla, with Serena and Bonnie on her back, descending to the ground in front of him. Upon landing, the two girls got off Charla and Serena recalled her back to her Pokeball, thanking her for the ride, and she turned and smiled at Clemont.

"Hi Clemont!"

"Hey Serena! Heh, surprised to see you not wearing the usual disguise."

Hearing this, Serena let out a short shriek and hid behind Bonnie, looking around cautiously for crazy fans. Luckily, no one was around.

Serena sighed out of relief and said, "Sorry about that guys. I guess I'm not that used to going out in public as Serylah. Especially when I'm around my friends because I just want to be myself."

Clemont chuckled and said, "It's alright Serena. We understand."

"Just please tell me ahead of time when you're going to use me as cover." added Bonnie, who was rolling her shoulders after Serena had grabbed them forcefully when she was hiding.

"Heheh, sorry Bonnie. So Clemont, I heard you got a new challenger that's really tough, is that true?"

"Well I guess. All I was told is that he's done some really amazing things before he arrived here at Kalos. I've also heard he's from the Johto region."

"Is he here, bro?"

"No, he isn't. But last night, Nurse Joy told me he was going to challenge me today at this exact time. Hmm, I wonder where he could be."

Dedenne, who was on Bonnie's head this whole time, suddenly heard something in the distance, so he turned around to see where it was coming from, spotting a teenage boy running towards their direction in the distance. The small electric/fairy Pokemon pointed to the boy and cried out, gaining everyone's attention.

"Dedenne, what is it?" asked Bonnie before she, Clemont, and Serena saw what he was pointing to.

In the distance was a trainer who looked about to be 18 years old. He had violet hair sticking out of his backwards yellow and black cap, and he wore a red and white jacket with a black T-shirt underneath, black shorts, and red and white sneakers. On his shoulder was a Pichu and running beside him was a Typhlosion.

"Sorry if I'm late!" he yelled out to them.

As he got closer and closer, he soon skidded to a stop, stopping right in front of Clemont.

"Hm, I assume you're the strong new challenger I heard about."

"Yes I am," the trainer said as he stuck his hand out for a greeting handshake. "My name's Jimmy, and I'm from New Bark Town all the way back at the Johto region. And these guys with me are my two best buddies, Typhlosion and Pichu!"

The two Pokemon cried out to say hi and Clemont happily returned the handshake and greeted himself.

"Nice to meet you Jimmy. I'm Clemont, and I'm the Gym Leader of the Lumiose City Gym, also known as Prism Tower."

The Johto trainer looked up at the tower in amazement, impressed of its size and structure. Bonnie then went up to him to introduce herself.

"Hello Jimmy! I'm Bonnie and this is my partner, Dedenne! I'm Clemont's little sister, and I'm also a Pokemon Trainer like you! I've challenged my brother many times and he's pretty tough, so watch out!"

"Really now? That just makes me all the more excited then! The tougher the challenge, the better!"

As they were talking, Dedenne and Pichu jumped off their trainers to have an introduction of themselves. After sharing some sparks, the two Pokemon joyfully started chasing each other. Bonnie then walked up to Typhlosion and started petting him.

"Man, your Pichu is so cute, and so is your Typhlosion."

This caused the fire-type to blush and look away, embarrassed and surprised of being called something like "cute."

"Thanks, and Typhlosion really is a cutie!" Jimmy playfully teased his starter, much to his chagrin.

Serena went up to Jimmy to introduce herself. "Hello Jimmy, my name's Serena and I'm from Vaniville Town. And in case you didn't know, I'm-"

"The Kalos Queen!" Jimmy finished for her.

"Y-You already knew?"

"Yeah! I heard a lot about you when I first came to this region, and I must say, it's a huge honor to meet you!"

"Aw, thanks! I usually don't get out in public like this though. Because the fame can get pretty crowded, I usually wear a disguise, but I kinda forgot for today." Serena nervously stated with a sweatdropped.

Jimmy chuckled and said, "I understand. I kinda go through the same thing whenever I'm at my hometown. Fans can be the craziest thing ever."

"Really." agreed Serena.

"Alright Jimmy, are you ready for a gym battle?" said Clemont.

"You bet," eagerly replied Jimmy, "and can it be a 6-on-6 battle?"

"6-on-6? I usually do 3-on-3. Why would you want a full battle?"

"Like I said, the tougher the challenge, the better! If that's okay with you, of course."

"Well, I don't see why not, so a full 6-on-6 it is! Let's go!" Clemont then ran inside the Prism Tower as everyone else except Serena followed.

Serena stared thoughtfully at the trainer from Johto. He reminded her in several ways of Ash; the adventurous-style of clothing, along with a hat, a small electric-type on his shoulder, a fully-evolved starter Pokemon at his side, his love of battling, and that eager and confident attitude. With him around, it was like Ash never left. She quickly got over these thoughts and followed her friends into the gym. There was a battle to watch and there's no way she's gonna miss it.

(music stops playing)

Moments later, everyone was in the battle room of the Prism Tower, with Clemont and Jimmy facing each other on opposite sides of the battlefield, Clembot acting as referee, and Serena, Bonnie, and Dedenne watching from the stands.

"Show them what you got, bro!" Bonnie cheered for her brother.

"The Lumiose Gym Battle between Jimmy and Clemont will now begin," announced the Clembot. "This will a full battle, and the battle will be over when all six of either trainer's Pokemon are unable to continue. Only the challenger will be allowed to make substitutions during the match, and now, bring out your first Pokemon."

Clemont took out his first Pokeball and threw it to the battlefield. "Go Heliolisk!" And out came the generator Pokemon who struck a battle-ready pose.

"Sudowoodo, let's go!" Jimmy shouted as he threw his first Pokeball, releasing the tree-imitating Pokemon.

(plays Mega Man 2 Medley from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U)

"And now, battle begin!" announced the Clembot.

"We'll have the first move! Heliolisk, use Thunderbolt!"

On command, Heliolisk fired a large bolt of lightning towards Sudowoodo.

"Sudowoodo, counter that with Mimic!"

The forked branch on Sudowoodo's head glew white before it unleashed a Thunderbolt attack. The two attacks met in the center, causing an explosion that cancelled out both of them.

"Sudowoodo, hit him with Hammer Arm!"

Sudowoodo's right foreleg glew white and the Pokemon ran towards his opponent, preparing to strike.

"Dodge and use Flash!"

Heliolisk jumped over the attack in time, and used Flash above the imitation Pokemon, blinding him and lowering his Accuracy. As Sudowoodo rubbed his eyes, Heliolisk landed about 6 feet behind him.

"Alright, now use Parabolic Charge!"

"Hit him with Feint Attack!"

Heliolisk opened his frills and launched a sphere of electricity above him to shoot multiple electric bolts towards Sudowoodo. Sudowoodo though, was able to avoid the attack by backflipping above the bolts and under the sphere, landing behind Heliolisk where he kicked the generator Pokemon to the ground.

"Retaliate that with Dragon Tail!"

Heliolisk activated the attack and used his tail to bounce high off the ground and land it on Sudowoodo's head.

"Use Hammer Arm!"

"Keep up Dragon Tail!"

Sudowoodo tried to hit Heliolisk, but he failed due to his lowered Accuracy and Heliolisk's higher Speed, so he ended getting hit with even more Dragon Tail attacks. That's when Jimmy gained an idea.

"Sudowoodo, on the next attack, sidestep and grab the tail!"

Sudowoodo nodded and did just that, sidestepping to avoid another Dragon Tail and then quickly grabbing the tail before it was swung back.

"Now do a double Hammer Arm!"

With Heliolisk in his grasp, Sudowoodo pulled the electric-type towards him leading up to a Hammer Arm with both of his forelegs, sending Heliolisk back to his trainer's side, knocked out.

"Heliolisk is unable to battle. The victory goes to Jimmy and Sudowoodo!"

"That was impressive." remarked Serena.

"Come on bro, you can still do it!" Bonnie continued to cheer for her brother.

Clemont stood speechless for a little bit before he returned Heliolisk to his Pokeball. That round went over sooner than he expected honestly, but quickly regained his focus on the match, taking out another Pokeball after thanking Heliolisk for his effort.

"I must admit Jimmy, you're not half-bad, but the battle's just begun! Emolga, let's go!"

From Clemont's second Pokemon came the flying electric squirrel, Emolga, who hovered to the air with its wings upon release. Jimmy stared at Emolga for a couple of seconds, pondering if he should switch and stay with Sudowoodo. After thinking it over, Jimmy made his decision.

"Alright Sudowoodo, I'm sticking with you! Use Thunderbolt!"

Using the copied attack from Clemont's last Pokemon, Sudowoodo fired a bolt of lightning towards Emolga from his forked branch.

"Dodge it!"

Emolga swiftly flew away from the attack.

"Keep up the Thunderbolt!"

Sudowoodo continued to fire Thunderbolts towards Emolga, but the flying squirrel easily kept dodging it due to his superior aerial mobility and Sudowoodo's lowered Accuracy.

"Emolga, use Acrobatics!"

"Block it!"

Up in the air, Emolga glew blue and dived down towards Sudowoodo in a zigzag motion. Sudowoodo quickly crossed his arms in front of him to block the attack. Upon colliding into Sudowoodo, both of the Pokemon were seen trying to push back the other.

"Alright Emolga, now use Iron Tail!"

With a grin, Clemont's Emolga cancelled his Acrobatics attack and flew above Sudowoodo's arms with his tail shining a bright white, following it up by whacking the imitation Pokemon's face with his metal-hard tail, sending Sudowoodo to the ground, but not out yet.

"We're not done yet! Sudowoodo, hit em' back with Feint Attack!"

Sudowoodo leaped from the ground and to the air with both his arms and legs, somersaulting behind Emolga and kicking it to the ground.

"Alright! Direct hit!"

Jimmy's glee was quickly cut short when Sudowoodo suddenly became Paralyzed, causing him to fall to the ground without a proper landing.

"Oh-no! Sudowoodo!"

"Looks like you didn't see Emolga's Static ability coming," said Clemont. "Now Emolga, use Electro Ball!"

Emolga swiftly flew back to the air and hit the now much slower Sudowoodo with an overhead Electro Ball, sending him back to his trainer's side of the battlefield. Despite all this damage, Sudowoodo still wasn't done as he tried to get back up his feet, but struggled doing so due to being Paralyzed. Jimmy then figured it was a good time to switch Pokemon, so he took out Sudowoodo's Pokeball to recall him.

"Sudowoodo, that'll be enough. Take a good rest."

After putting away Sudowoodo's Pokeball, Jimmy turned to his Pichu with a confident look in his eyes that was reflected onto Pichu's.

"Hey Pichu, you think you're up for it?"

Pichu confidently nodded and jumped off his trainer's shoulder to the battlefield in Sudowoodo's place. Pichu faced his aerial opponent with a determined face as sparks flew from his tiny cheeks.

"Looks like this will be a match between small electric Pokemon." commented Serena who was very entertained from the battle so far.

"This is gonna be a cute fight for sure!" added Bonnie.

"Alright Emolga, use Iron Tail!"

"Pichu, you use Iron Tail too!"

Pichu leapt to the air to Emolga's level and Emolga charged towards him, with their shining tails meeting in the center. With their attacks equal in power, the two bounced off each other and back to their original positions.

"Emolga, use Charge Beam!"

Emolga fired a beam of electricity down towards Pichu. Strangely, both Pichu and his trainer grinned seeing the attack, like as if this was something they wanted.

"Pichu, absorb that electricity!" Jimmy confidently ordered.

With his arms wide out, Pichu leaped straight to the Charge Beam attack. While the attack made contact, Pichu looked unharmed. Instead, he impressively separated the electricity of the Charge Beam around him and absorbed it all into his cheeks, increasing his power.

"Whoa! Didn't expect that!" Clemont honestly admitted as Emolga stared surprised at his opponent below.

"Pichu absorbed that electricity like a sponge in water!" said Serena.

"I wonder what he's gonna do now." said Bonnie.

"Hey, thanks for the boost! Now Pichu, use Thunder Shock!"

Pichu jumped to the air and fired a Thunder Shock attack towards Emolga. Now normally, Thunder Shock would look thin and weak, but due to Pichu's recent power increase, the attack surprisingly looked more like a Thunder attack, and probably had the exact same power.

"Dodge it, quick!"

Emolga managed to fly away from the attack in the nick of time, though when the Thunder Shock hit the ground, it left an impressive-looking crater on the battlefield, being a fine example of Pichu's power after absorbing electricity from other attacks.

Clemont gritted his teeth. Electric attacks would just work against their favor and Emolga's Iron Tail is in equal terms with Pichu's. This left him with only one attack option.

"Emolga, use Acrobatics!"

Emolga once again glew blue and dived towards Pichu in a zigzag motion, though neither Jimmy or Pichu looked concerned.

"Dodge it Pichu!"

With his incredible speed, Pichu effortlessly avoided Emolga's attack. Emolga didn't give up and continued to use Acrobatics, but Pichu kept dodging it nonetheless. As Pichu dodged all around, Jimmy looked around the entire battlefield, coming up with a battle plan.

"Pichu, use Iron Tail to launch yourself into the air!"

Doing what his trainer said, Pichu activated his Iron Tail and struck the ground, sending him to the air above Emolga.

"Now get on Emolga!"

Pichu then dived down on top of Emolga's back. The flying squirrel flew around rapidly, trying to shake Pichu off, but the little mouse held on tightly, awaiting his trainer's next command.

"Finish Emolga with Volt Tackle!"

On Emolga's back, Pichu covered himself in a coat of golden electricity and rammed down the flying squirrel's back, head first, bringing down Emolga like a comet. The attack caused a huge dust cloud upon hitting the ground. When the dust cleared, Emolga was knocked out and Pichu was still standing, albeit suffering from the recoil damage of the attack.

"Emolga is unable to battle. The victory goes to Jimmy and Pichu!"

"Way to go buddy!" Jimmy cheered for his Pichu.

"Pichu pichu!" Pichu gleefully responded.

"That sure is a powerful and unique Pichu." said Bonnie, amazed of Jimmy's Pichu, especially that normally, Pichu are fragile due to their size and they're too young to absorb electricity like how Pikachu and Raichu can, but Jimmy's Pichu was something else.

Serena nodded in agreement as she stared at Jimmy and Pichu. They really reminded her of how Ash and his Pikachu battled, and she should know as she always studied Ash closely when he was in a battle. Jimmy and Pichu had the same trust for each other as Ash and Pikachu had, along with their confidence and knack for clever and unorthodox strategies, with the Pichu used Iron Tail to get on top of Emolga being similar of how Pikachu used Iron Tail to force opponents using Dig out of the ground. It truly made her miss Ash even more as she remembered all those battles Ash and Pikachu won together.

Back on the battlefield, Clemont recalled Emolga, thanked him for his effort, and he sent out his third Pokeball, releasing Diggersby.

Seeing this, Serena snapped out of her thoughts and took out a Pokeball of her own and opened it on the stands beside her, releasing Diggersby's girlfriend, Sylveon.

"Sylveon, Diggersby is battling a strong trainer, so I want you to cheer for him to give him more power."

Sylveon gleefully complied and cheered out for Diggersby, who happily waved back.

Jimmy recalled Pichu back on his shoulder and in his place, Jimmy released out his Politoed for battle.

"Politoed, start this off with Hydro Pump!"

From his mouth, Politoed fired a powerful torrent of water towards Diggersby.

"Dodge that with Dig!"

Before the Hydro Pump could reach him, Diggersby quickly dug underground with his ears like a drill. With Diggersby nowhere to be seen, Politoed cautiously looked around the area, awaiting for Diggersby's attack. Before Politoed and or his trainer could react, Diggersby emerged right behind him.

"Now use Wild Charge!"

Covering himself in electricity (much like Volt Tackle, except much less golden), Diggersby forcefully tackled Politoed, launching away the frog with the super-effective as Diggersby returned to his trainer's side, suffering a bit from the recoil damage. In the stands, Sylveon joyfully cheered her boyfriend for dealing a good amount of damage to his opponent. Politoed then started falling back down to the battlefield, head first.

"Hit Politoed with Mud Shot!"

Diggersby swung his ears to fire off strong balls of mud towards the falling frog.

"Leap on the Mud Shot to get above Diggersby!"

Hearing his trainer's commands, Politoed opened his eyes, flipped back up, and skillfully landed on the speeding Mud Shot attack and leaping high off of it in the very next millisecond. Both Clemont and Diggersby were extremely shocked seeing this impressive maneuver as Politoed shadowed high over Diggersby.

"Now use Hypnosis!"

In the air above Diggersby, Politoed released hypnotic waves from the swirl on his belly. Due to Diggersby being directly below Politoed, the attack easily landed on the overgrown rabbit, putting him to sleep.

"Diggersby! Wake up!"

Sylveon also cried out in worry for Diggersby in the stands. Politoed then landed right in front of Diggersby, waiting for the next command.

"Now give Diggersby a good Dynamic Punch!"

Politoed raised his red-glowing right fist and after charging it up with a spin, delivered the powerful fighting attack straight to Diggersby's gut. The attack was so strong, it sent Diggersby straight past Clemont and into the wall, knocking him out in the process. Sylveon sadly called out for her boyfriend in worry.

"Diggersby is unable to battle. The victory goes to Jimmy and Politoed!"

Instead of recalling Diggersby back to his Pokeball, Clemont picked up his longtime friend and brought him to the stands where Sylveon was at, saying, "I believe Diggersby will return back to full health faster with you instead of in his Pokeball. Please promise you'll take good care of him."

Sylveon nodded and Clemont places Diggersby next to her. Sylveon then started rubbing his forehead to help soothe out his pain. Diggersby slightly woke up from his unconscious state and thanked Sylveon for her help and support.

"Those two are so cute together!" said Bonnie, admiring the site of the two Pokemon.

"They really are." agreed Serena.

Returning to the battlefield, Clemont released his fourth Pokemon: Magnezone. Jimmy decided to stay with Politoed, hoping to score another one-hit knock out with the powerful Dynamic Punch. Starting off the round, Politoed hopped towards the hovering Magnezone with a Dynamic Punch in tow. Unfortunately, Politoed ended up missing, allowing Magnezone to strike back with Metal Sound, severely lowering Politoed's Special Defense. As Politoed recovered from the horrible sound, Magnezone snuck behind and attacked with a point blank Zap Cannon. The attack caused a huge blast that launched Politoed back to Jimmy's feet, knocked out.

"Politoed is unable to battle. The victory goes to Clemont and Magnezone!"

After thanking the frog for his hard work, Jimmy recalled Politoed back to his Pokeball. Knowing the perfect Pokemon against Magnezone, Jimmy turned to his starter Pokemon beside him.

"Alright buddy, now it's your time!"

Typhlosion cried out a battle roar as flames erupted from his back. He then ran to the battlefield, ready for battle.

"Magnezone, use Zap Cannon!"

Magnezone fired down the powerful orb of electricity towards Typhlosion.

"Typhlosion, use Eruption!"

Typhlosion launched multiple fiery rocks from his back that passed right through the Zap Cannon, destroying the attack. The rocks then started to rain down on Magnezone, knocking it out due to the power of Typhlosion being at full health for the attack.

"Magnezone is unable to battle. The victory goes to Jimmy and Typhlosion!"

Clemont recalled Magnezone and took out a more familiar face: Chesnaught. As the Pokemon materialized from his capsule, the giant grass Pokemon flexed the muscles he was proud before pounding his chest, ready for battle.

"You can do it Chesnaught!" cheered one of Chesnaught's closest friends, Bonnie.

"Show them what you got!" cheered Serena.

Hearing his friends, Chesnaught turned to the stands and happily roared to them, saying he'll do a great job for them. He then spotted his comrade, Diggersby, defeated, causing him to turn back toward his opponent and growl, wanting to avenge his fallen teammate.

"Typhlosion, use Eruption again!"

Typhlosion once again launched fiery rocks above Chesnaught.

"Defend yourself with Spiky Shield!"

Before the rocks could rain down on him, Chesnaught slams his fists together, forming a round shield of spikes around him, completely protecting him from the attack.

"Chesnaught, use Thunder Punch!"

Chesnaught deactivated the shield and ran towards Chesnaught as he charged up his right fist with electricity.

"Counter that with Flame Wheel!"

Typhlosion rolled up in a ball of flames and charged towards Chesnaught. Chesnaught's electrical fist collided with Typhlosion's flaming body and the two tried to push each other back. Typhlosion eventually came out on top and rolled over Chesnaught's body.

"Don't let up Chesnaught! Use Seed Bomb!"

Chesnaught quickly got up for his trainer and fired explosive seeds from his shell towards Typhlosion.

"Run around Chesnaught!"

As he avoided the attack, Typhlosion started run circles around Chesnaught as the spiny armor Pokemon continued to fire Seeb Bomb at it, eventually creating a large cloud of smoke from the multiple explosions. Chesnaught looked around the smoke he was in cautiously, unsure of Typhlosion's current location, until he was suddenly struck by a Flamethrower out of nowhere, launching him out of the smoke and back to his trainer's side, knocked out.

"Chesnaught is unable to battle. The victory goes to Jimmy and Typhlosion!"

Chesnaught weakly got back to his feet and walked to his trainer's side, disappointed of his lose.

"You still did great Chesnaught!" cheered Serena at the stands.

"And you're just gonna get stronger and stronger!" added Bonnie.

"They're right Chesnaught. You did a wonderful job and you gave it everything you got, and that's all that matters." Clemont assured his Pokemon.

Chesnaught quickly cheered up from the kind praise he received from his trainer and friends, provoking him to strike a pose with muscles pridefully, before stumbling down to his knee due to the damage from the battle. Chuckling a bit, Clemont recalled Chesnaught back to his Pokeball and he sent out his last Pokemon: Luxray. Jimmy once again decided to stick with Typhlosion.

Starting off the final round, Typhlosion used Eruption again to hopefully finish Luxray in one hit. However, Luxray managed to dodge the attack in time.

"Luxray, use Electric Terrain!"

Firing off multiple lightning bolts on the battlefield, the area became coated in a yellow glow, powering up Luxray's electric attacks. With the new power increase, Luxray charged towards Typhlosion with Wild Charge. Typhlosion attempted to counter back with Flame Wheel, but upon collision, Typhlosion ended up being launched back due to Luxray's greater strength.

"Come on Typhlosion! Use Shadow Claw!"

The volcano Pokemon quickly got back up and ran towards Luxray with his right paw covered in a black aura in the shape of a claw.

"Use Thunder Fang to counter that!"

The two Pokemon once again met in a collision as the two physical attacks tried to push back the other. Just before Luxray was about to force Typhlosion away with the stronger Thunder Fang...

"Now hit him with Flamethrower!"

Luxray was then struck with the point blank Flamethrower, launching him back while also seriously damaging him.

"Fight back with Swift!"

Luxray swung his tail to fire the unavoidable stars to Typhlosion.

"Use Flame Wheel to avoid the attack!"

Curling up in his fiery body, Typhlosion rolled around the battlefield as the stars continued to follow him. Typhlosion soon rolled towards Luxray, who jumped out of the way to avoid taking damage.

"Now jump!"

Right on command, Typhlosion, still using Flame Wheel, jumped from where he was to the air, ending behind Luxray. That was when Luxray saw his own Swift attack coming towards him, hitting him and sending him back to the ground, though not out yet. Typhlosion landed safely, still rolling around with Flame Wheel.

"That battle is not over yet," yelled Clemont. "Luxray, Thunder Fang combined with Wild Charge!"

Getting back to his feet, Luxray engulfed both his fangs and entire body with sparkling electricity and like a hungry lion chasing its prey, took off for Typhlosion.

"Well we're gonna end this with a bang!" Jimmy shouted back as he pumped his face as the fires of battle shined in his eyes. "Typhlosion, combine Shadow Claw with your Flame Wheel!"

Within the flaming rolling canine, two dark claws were added to the mix on both sides. Luxray was right on Typhlosion's tail, leaping left and right behind him over the trail of fire to catch up. Typhlosion soon turned around, forcing Luxray to stop to keep his eyes on Typhlosion, but before Luxray could continue to chase after him, Typhlosion turned around once again back towards his opponent. Typhlosion then leapt out of the Flame Wheel attack, rushing towards Luxray with a double Shadow Claw and the trail of fire from Flame Wheel still covered his body. Luxray also leapt with the powered-up combo of Wild Charge and Thunder Fang. Upon collision in mid-air, Luxray bit down Typhlosion's right claw and he tried to ram him over with Wild Charge. Typhlosion though, took out his left claw, which was engulfed in both Shadow Claw and the fires of Flame Wheel, and struck down Luxray's cheek before going back to Flame Wheel to bring the electric Pokemon down with him. When the two hit the ground, their impact created a large smoke cloud from the dust of the battlefield.

Clemont called out to his Pokemon in worry, Serena, Bonnie, Dedenne, Sylveon, and Diggersby watched the dirt cloud anxiously as they waited for it to clear to see the results, and Jimmy was seen gritting his teeth, hoping his strategy had worked.

When the dust all cleared, it revealed Typhlosion standing tall and proud on his hind legs over the fainted Luxray. Out of victory, Typhlosion roared as the flame on his back erupted once more.

(plays Gym from Pokemon (Anime))

"Luxray is unable to battle. Typhlosion is the winner, which means the match goes to Jimmy of New Bark Town!"

Ecstatic of his victory, Jimmy jumped to the air and raised his fist shouting, "Alright! We did it guys!"

Typhlosion happily ran up to his trainer and jumped to the air with him, leading the trainer and Pokemon to high five. Pichu was joyfully hopping around as they did this.

"Aww, Clemont lost." Bonnie sadly mumbled to herself as Serena comfortably patted her back.

"Still, they fought the battle to their very best." Serena then brought her attention to the celebrating Johto-hailed trainer.

" _The guy really is an impressive trainer,_ " Serena thought to herself. " _He battles like him, strategizes like him, even communicates with his Pokemon like him. This is really bringing back memories._ "

Clemont walked over to his Luxray to kneel down and pet him.

"Luxray, did an amazing job. Thank you."

Luxray weakly brought his head to lick his trainer's hand, thanking him for the praise. Clemont then brought out his Pokemon to recall him.

"Here, take a good long rest."

Clemont recalled Luxray back to his Pokeball and he and Jimmy met each other at the center of the battlefield.

"I must admit Jimmy, you are one strong trainer with some very strong Pokemon!" complimented Clemont.

"Thanks Clemont. That was a really fun battle that you put up there, right guys?"

Both Typhlosion and Pichu raised their arms and cried out, agreeing with their trainer on how fun the battle was.

Clemont chuckled and reached into his pocket. "And as proof of your victory in the Lumiose City Gym, I present the Voltage Badge!" Clemont then handed the gym badge over to Jimmy, who gladly accepted it.

"Alright! We won the Voltage Badge!" Jimmy victoriously shouted as he and his Pokemon jumped to the air in celebration.

Serena, along with Bonnie, Sylveon, and Diggersby, made their way to the battlefield when Clemont gave Jimmy his badge, with Serena gazing thoughtfully at Jimmy as he and his Pokemon celebrated, once again reminding her of Ash where he and his Pokemon would do the same upon winning a badge.

After his badge celebration, Jimmy took out his badge case and inserted the Voltage Badge in the fifth slot.

(plays Route 4 from Pokemon (Anime))

Moments later, everyone was back outside the front of the Prism Island, where the sun was now setting as evident by the mid-low sun and the clear orange sky.

"So Jimmy, now that you have your fifth Kalos gym badge, where do you plan to head off to now?" asked Clemont.

"Well, I planning on challenging the gym leader of Laverre City for my 6th gym badge, but I think right now I'll just take a break with my Pokemon for now. We got a lot of time til' the Kalos League starts and there's a lot cool stuff here at this city that I haven't seen yet, so why not?" said Jimmy.

"Oh, you'll love it here," exclaimed Bonnie. "There's so many great restaurants, five-stars even! And there's also a place to ride Gogoat, a stand to buy these delicious snacks called Lumiose Galette, so many cool clothing shops, a place where you can make juice with berries, and there's also-"

Before Bonnie could continue on, Clemont used his Aipom Arm to cover her mouth and drag her to his side with an embarrassed look on his face as Serena laughed with a sweatdrop.

"Bonnie, I'm sure Jimmy is very interested in visiting all those places, but I think he and Clemont want to go to the Pokemon Center and heal up their Pokemon first." explained Serena.

Jimmy amusingly chuckled and said, "Yeah, she's right. But those do sound like really cool places, and I think I'll start touring around tomorrow. Besides, the day's almost over and I'm pretty tired myself."

"OOO, I could be your tour guide tomorrow! I know this whole city like the back of my head!" Bonnie shouted from behind the palm of the Aipom Arm.

"Save yourself, or else you'll be stuck here forever." mumbled an overly embarrassed Clemont.

Jimmy chuckled again and said, "It's okay. I'm sure she'll be a great tour guide!"

Hearing this caused Bonnie to free herself from the Aipom Arm's grasp and blow a raspberry at her brother.

"Alright everyone," said Serena as she put on a dark hoodie to hide herself from the public, "let's all just head to the Pokemon Center now."

Agreeing with Serena, everyone went their way to the closest Pokemon Center to heal their Pokemon.

As they walked through Lumiose City, Bonnie went up to Jimmy and asked, "Hey Jimmy, just curious, but what makes you so popular to so many people? Don't take it the wrong way, you're an amazing trainer and all, I'm just wondering how you got so well known."

"Heh heh, no problem, I understand what you're asking," said Jimmy, "though, I think I'll tell you guys tomorrow morning. My first is kinda hurting right now from that battle."

"Oh, okay! That's fine!" said Bonnie.

"I'm honestly interested myself," said Clemont. "When you came to the city to challenge me, so many people told me to prepare myself for a tough challenge, and they weren't wrong."

"I'd like to hear too!" said Serena.

All this attention caused Jimmy to blush embarrassingly and rub the back of his head. Being a humble trainer, while he finds it cool to be popular with all he's done, he really finds it embarrassing when people give him too much praise. Like, other trainers have done some pretty cool stuff too, so why should he receive so much attention? That's one of the many reasons why Jimmy went to Kalos; not to just challenge the regional league, but to get away from the obsessive people of Johto.

(music stops playing)

With just a moment later, the four trainers got to a Pokemon Center, healed their Pokemon, ate a good meal, and since the setting sun was now gone when they got there, they decided to hit the hay for the night and get some sleep. As they slept, Jimmy wondered what Bonnie, his tour guide, will show him tomorrow, Bonnie was excited to both show Jimmy around Lumiose City and hear what he has done before Kalos, Clemont was probably thinking of an invention to make the tour easier to go through considering it'll be led by his hyperactive sister, and Serena was pleasantly dreaming of many of her past memories with Ash due to how Jimmy reminded her of him. Tomorrow is gonna be a long day for all of them.

* * *

And there we have it! The new challenger was Jimmy of the Johto region! In cade you didn't know, Jimmy appeared in The Legend of Thunder specials of the Pokemon Anime Chronicles. They're pretty good, go see them if you haven't! Also for Jimmy, I'm gonna be basing his team off of Gold from Pokemon Adventures, with a few twists here and there.

Once again, thank you all for reading and please leave a review for criticism, questions, ideas, etc. and etc. I'm open to all!

Plus, mega hype for both Pokemon Sun and Moon AND Ash facing off against Alain in the Kalos Finals! Can't wait for all that!

Have a nice day!


	5. Chapter 4 - The Shining Lumiose

Chapter-o Four-o of this Fanfic-o is now complete-o. Please-o enjoy-o.

* * *

 **(plays Mother 3 Love Theme from Mother 3)**

 _On a bright and sunny day of Pallet Town, students of Professor Oak's Pokemon Summer Camp were hiking their way through the forest near the town. The students were split into groups. Unfortunately, a girl with long blonde hair ended up lost in the forest due to her fear of Pokemon and the forest that caused her to run away from her group. During their hike, not only did the pressure of being surrounded by some many trees got to the young girl's head, but a flock of Pidgey and a trio of Oddish went by the group and while the other kids were amazed by the sight of Pokemon, the girl got frightened and she ran away, screaming, not even knowing where she was going. And that's how she got lost._

" _Where is everybody?" the girl questioned as she stumbled through a small area in the forest. "Where did you all go?"_

 _The bushes next to her started to rustle, causing her to shriek, but when she tried to flee, she only ended up tripping and hurting her knee, leaving the girl with no choice but to quiver in fear as the bushes continued to rustle._

 _Out of the bushes came a Poliwag, who gave the girl a short, innocent glance before hopping away. While that Pokemon wasn't too frightening, it did gave her the impression that there is more in the forest, and with that in mind, her eyes started to tear up._

" _I knew I didn't wanna come to camp. I knew it." Now unable to take anything anymore, the girl screamed to the sky, "MOMMY!"_

 _Just then, the bushes started to rustle again and the young girl fearfully awaited for a scary Pokemon to come out, only to hear a young boy's voice say, "Poliwag?"_

 _The source of the voice came out of the bushes, revealing a young boy about the girl's age, though perhaps a few months older, who had raven-black hair in messy hairstyle. The boy then saw the girl on the ground crying, so he approached and asked, "Hey, are you alright?"_

 _Hearing the voice, the girl looked up, surprised and relieved that it wasn't another Pokemon._

" _Hi! I'm Ash," the boy greeted. "Who are you?"_

 _The girl was still too scared to respond._

" _What's wrong?"_

" _I hurt my leg."_

 _The boy named Ash knelt down to the girl. "Don't worry," he then reached to his pocket to take out a blue handkerchief. "See this? This will make it better."_

 _Ash then wrapped the handkerchief around the girl's knee._

" _All done!"_

 _The girl tried to stand back up, but the pain still in her leg prevented her from doing so._

" _Now watch this," Ash called out as he started doing magical-looking hand motions around the girl's knee. "Feel better, feel better, right away!"_

 _Thinking this worked, the girl tried once again to stand up, but the pain was still there._

" _Ow! It still hurts! I can't stand up!"_

 _Hearing this, Ash stood up and gave Serena a confident and motivational look._

" _Don't give up til' it's over, 'kay?"_

 _He then politely extended his hand towards the girl to help her get back up on her feet._

" _Come on."_

 _The girl looked up at the boy with a touched and speechless expression as she slowly raised her hand for the boy to grab. Upon grabbing her hand, Ash harmlessly brought her up to her feet and the girl ended up leaning against his shoulders. She quickly stepped back, allowing her to face him._

" _There you go!" Ash happily chimed before giving her a toothy grin, added with a friendly chuckle. "I think we should be getting back to the campsite, 'kay? Come on."_

 _And with that, the young Ash escorted the girl out of the forest with his hand holding her's. The girl continued to stare thoughtfully at the boy. Not only did he help her when he didn't even know her, but his positivity was something to be admired. She felt strange. She had never felt something like this ever in her life before._

" _By the way, what's your name?"_

" _OH! Um, my name's Serena."_

" _Serena? Hey, that's a pretty name!"_

" _Pr-Pr-Pretty?"_

" _Yep! Pretty awesome!"_

 _Serena smiled. When she first arrived to camp, she was really not looking forward to it at all because how much she feared Pokemon and nature, but now knowing this boy is one of her classmates, perhaps the rest of the session won't be so bad. With him around, there just wasn't a thing to be feared._

 _She now felt completely safe._

 **(music stops playing)**

Serena soon woke up from her memory dream. She looked outside through the bedroom window. It was still night and Bonnie was asleep on the bed on the other side of the room. Clemont and Jimmy both had separate rooms to give the girls privacy.

Serena happily sighed. Remembering that day years and years ago always brought a smile to her face, albeit, a bittersweet one. Yes, it brought a smile because that was when she met her crush, the one that always inspired her, the one she always looked up to, but now that Ash has disappeared, it was also another reminder of him, causing her to miss him even more.

Her face turned into a sad frown and she quietly stepped out of bed, walked towards the window, and looked up to the moon above, whispering, "Where are you?"

* * *

 **(plays Viridian City from Pokemon (Anime))**

The morning sun shined over the quiet Viridian City as the newspaper boy was piling newspapers in the basket of his bike.

"Another day, another paper, and another dollar." he mumbled to himself as he took the newspapers from the bag his boss sent him to his bike, piling up a couple at a time.

After taking another two from his bag, the boy walked towards his bike, only to see a dark blue bird with a red breast on top of the basket, digging its talons through the newspapers.

 **(plays Hungry Caterpie from Hey You, Pikachu!)**

"Hey! Get away from my bike!" the boy shouted as he ran towards the bird with two newspapers in hand.

Upon reaching his bike, the boy swung down a newspaper towards the bird, though the bird easily evaded his swing, causing the boy to swat down the newspapers on his bike, making the boy fall down from the force of his swing and all the newspapers in the basket to fly out and scatter around the ground.

The bird then saw the paper it was looking for, so it flew down and picked it up in its talons. The newspaper boy got up and try to swat at the bird again, only to miss every time as the bird flew to the north-west direction, away from the boy and out of Viridian City.

"You stupid bird! You owe me a buck each for all these newspapers!" the boy yelled at the bird, shaking his fist.

The bird only rolled its eyes and continued its way. How does the boy even think it can pay him back? What an idiot.

* * *

 **(plays Dragon Roost Island from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD)**

Up on the tallest mountain of Mt. Silver, Ash patiently waited for his Swellow to return with the newspaper for today. Upon seeing his faithful dark blue bird flying in, Ash smiled and Swellow handed him the newspaper. Ash then raised his left arm for Swellow to perch on and the bird happily nuzzled his head as Ash chuckled and put the newspaper between his pants and cloth like a pocket so he could pet Swellow and stroke his chin.

"Thanks Swellow. You did a great job once again."

"Swell swellow!"

After he was done praising Swellow, Ash walked back into his large crater home.

Inside the crater, Swellow flew off his trainer's arm to rejoin his fellow bird Pokemon in the air, instantly getting into another air race with Staraptor, his best friend and rival.

Ash looked down from where he was at to see Pikachu with Donphan at the coast of the lake. The little mouse was tickling the upside-down armor Pokemon with his electricity. The two always were close like brothers due to how much Donphan looked up to Pikachu ever since he hatched as a Phanpy, especially when he saved him from Team Rocket himself.

Smiling at the two, Ash walked down to them and the two Pokemon, seeing their trainer, happily approached him. Pikachu hopped on his shoulder and Donphan jumped up to him like a dog. Ash chuckled and petted the two, happy to see them as well.

"Hey you guys. Wanna read today's paper with me?"

The two Pokemon nodded and Ash sat on the lake's coast with his legs resting in the fresh lake water. He opened the newspaper and started reading its contents.

"Alright, let's see... Ledian migration over Celadon, Zapdos supposedly spotted in Kanto Power Plant, fisher catches giant Shiny Seaking at Seafoam Islands, same old same old..." Ash muttered as he turned the page, seeing a familiar-looking topic. "Hmm, Pokemon Poacher, Jerry Frederick, captured after being found unconscious in the streets of Viridian City. Gee, I wonder who helped out with that." Ash said sarcastically as he grinned toward Pikachu, who joyfully returned the grin. Turning the page again, Ash noticed another article that caught his attention. "The Ultimate Champion Tournament of Driftveil City, Unova, will begin in 4 weeks. Trainers, REGISTER NOW! Get your tickets ASAP!"

Reading this, Ash's face grew a small frown and Pikachu and Donphan noticed this.

"Pika chupi, Pika Pi?"

"Do Dopha?"

Regaining his smile, Ash chuckled and crumpled up the newspaper, saying, "Don't worry guys, I'm fine. I'm not really interested in it anyway." Ash then threw the newspaper away and stood back up. "Besides, we missed it two times already, so it's really no big deal."

Ash was then suddenly sprayed in the face with a huge torrent of water. After wiping his eyes, Ash stared at the lake to see the one who did that: his Floatzel, who was smirking at his trainer with his arms crossed. Ash smirked back at the weasel.

"Oh, so you wanna go, Floatzel?"

"Floatzel!"

"In that case, bring it on!"

Ash jumped to the lake and swam towards Floatzel and the two started sparring with each other. Pikachu shook his head at the display. Ash always enjoyed fighting with his own Pokemon. Sometimes, he swore Ash was becoming a Pokemon himself. Before he could think any more of this, Pikachu was sprayed in the face with water as well, courtesy of Donphan who sucked up water in his trunk. Donphan laughed at his friend and Pikachu, taking the prank well, laughed too. The two then ran off to eat some berries together as Ash and Floatzel traded fists in the lake.

* * *

 **(plays Chapter 13: Silence of the Moon from Kid Icarus: Uprising (0:00-0:30 loop))**

Back at Lumiose City, Bonnie was giving Jimmy the tour of the big city like he asked for, though it was much more energized than he expected.

"And that's the Stone Emporium and you can find a whole bunch of evolutionary stones there! Fire Stones, Thunderstones, Leaf Stones, Water Stones, Sun Stones..."

Behind the blabbing Bonnie were Jimmy (with his Typhlosion and Pichu), Clemont, and Serena (who was in her Serylah disguise) in that order.

Jimmy, while feeling a bit exhausted for all the energy Bonnie was putting into this tour, couldn't help but feel a little entertained by it.

Clemont was holding the invention he created this morning to make the tour more bearable to go through: The Tourist Alarm Mark I. Its purpose was to emit a loud sound to indicate Bonnie that she's wasting too much time on a single area, and he was just about to activate it now since Bonnie was now listing EVERY stone the Stone Emporium had instead of just a few.

Serena was behind everyone else because of how tired she was. She did not get enough sleep as everyone else did since she woke up during the night to think of Ash again. She sighed to herself.

" _Ugh, why do I do this to myself?_ " Serena complained inside her mind as she rubbed her forehead. She was just about to fall asleep on the sidewalk until Clemont activated his loud device, keeping her awake and grabbing Bonnie's attention.

 **(plays Lumiose City from Pokemon (Anime))**

"Alright Bonnie, I think that'll be enough for the Stone Emporium."

"But I haven't even named all the Mega Stones yet!"

"You've named like 21! And the Stone Emporium doesn't even have all the Mega Stones!"

"Ugh, fine, whatever. MOVING ON!"

Continue their way through Vernal Avenue, the group soon came across Cafe Classe.

"And here's one of the many cafes we have here at Lumiose City, Cafe Classe. It's just your plain, old cafe, so let's move on to-"

Before Bonnie could finish, Jimmy, Clemont, and Serena all entered the cafe, wanting to take a break from Bonnie's exhausting tour.

"I forgot to eat breakfast, so I'm kinda hungry." said Jimmy.

"I'm gonna need some coffee. I hardly got any sleep last night." said Serena.

"And I... need a break from my sister in her Tour Mode." said Clemont as he put the Tourist Alarm Mark I away in his Aipom Arm.

"But we're not even halfway done yet!" whined Bonnie.

"Bonnie, don't you want to hear all of Jimmy's cool adventures in the past?"

Bonnie pouted for a bit and said, "Ugh, you're right." She then raised her arms to the air and made her to Cafe Classe as she yelled, "Alright, for a brief time only, the Lumiose City Grand Tour will be on hold! I repeat: ONLY FOR A BRIEF TIME!"

Clemont sighed at his sister and followed her in.

 **(plays From Shadows (Little Black Bow Remix) from RWBY Chibi)**

Inside Cafe Classe, the gang ordered some treats and drinks and sat around a four-chair table. Serena ordered a cream and five sugars coffee, Jimmy ordered three danishes, one for him, one for Typhlosion, and one for Pichu, Clemont ordered a chocolate donut, and Bonnie ordered some macarons that she shared with Dedenne.

As they snacked on, Bonnie noticed Serena almost falling asleep twice as she drank her coffee.

"Serylah, are you okay? You look completely pooped out."

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I had a little bump in the night, so I couldn't get enough sleep."

"What kind of "bump" did you have?" Bonnie asked suspiciously.

"Oh, just a crazy dream!" Serena quickly responded, now feeling little more awake from her coffee.

"Sure..." Bonnie said, already getting an idea of what Serena's "crazy dream" was.

"So Jimmy," Clemont started, "what did you do before you arrived here at Kalos?"

 **(plays New Bark Town from Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal)**

"Heh, might as well go to the way beginning eight years ago. When I was 10, I started my first Pokemon Journey in the Johto Region. I began at my home, New Bark Town, and I went to Professor Elm's Lab to pick my starter." Jimmy then looked down at his Typhlosion, fondly remembering the day they first met. "And for my starter, I chose this guy down here, back when he was a Cyndaquil. The moment I saw his cute little smile, I just knew he would be the perfect choice. Isn't that right, buddy?"

Typhlosion nuzzled his head on his trainer's leg as Jimmy petted him on the head.

"That's so cute!" said Bonnie.

"It reminds me how I first me Delphox as a Fennekin." said Serena.

"Yeah. I wasn't the only one in New Bark Town who started their journey that day. My two close friends, Marina and Vincent, had also picked their starters with me. Marina picked Totodile and Vincent picked Chikorita."

"Oh, where are they at now?" asked Clemont.

"Marina chose to be a Pokemon Coordinator, and she's traveling at the Hoenn region right now to compete in the Hoenn Grand Festival. Vincent has gone to the Sinnoh region to challenge the regional league. I've called him about a week ago and he said he has 6 badges already. Two more, and he's off to the Lily of the Valley Conference. We used to travel together for a bit during our first journey eight years ago, well, mostly Marina, Vincent usually just traveled farther than us when he felt we were too slow. Ironically, Marina and I were able to earn our eight gym badges before he did, so we both took on the Silver Conference, back when it was held at Mt. Silver. While Marina made it to the Top 4, I actually won the whole league."

"That's cool!" said Serena.

"It was! Though, I lost to the final Elite Four member, Karen, disqualifying me from the championships. That didn't, however, stop the people of New Bark Town to outright praise me for how much I accomplished. It was cool at first, but it quickly became overwhelming considering every morning I woke up, there was always someone asking for my autograph at my front door.

"I can understand the feeling." said Serena.

 **(plays One of a Kind (starts at 0:19) from Bayonetta)**

"Totally. So I decided to leave the town for a bit to gain some space. I challenged other trainers for fun and I soon met up with Marina and Vincent again. And then we encountered one of the craziest things in our lives. Y'see, there were these goons from this organization called Team Rocket-"

"Team Rocket?!" Serena, Bonnie, and Clemont repeated, recognizing that team name.

"Do you know Team Rocket too?" asked Jimmy.

"You can say we also had some trouble with Team Rocket when we were on a journey eight years ago." said Clemont.

"Almost every day in fact." added Bonnie.

"Heh, those guys are everywhere. Well anyways, these goons of Team Rocket were trying to capture the Legendary Beast, Raikou, and we went out to stop them. It was a long and tough battle, but at the end, we were able to defeat them and free Raikou, and it was one of the most awesomest things in my life, being able to see Raikou up-close and all."

"It really must be!" said Clemont, looking very enhanced and a bit jealous by the story due to his love for electric-types.

"Turns out Raikou wasn't the only Legendary Beast Team Rocket was after. A year later, when I was revisiting the Ruins of Alph, I saw the same Team Rocket members from before trying to capture Entei. That time, it was only me, so I fought against them myself and I was able to hold them off for a bit until the Unown of the ruins came and magically freed Entei themselves. I have to admit, seeing all those Unown working together was really cool. Those Team Rocket guys were able to get away again, but I encountered them again another year later at the Whirl Islands. This time, they were trying to capture the last member of the Legendary Beasts, Suicune. Once again, it was only me, and it was a bit more tough because of the chaotic storms and dangerous floods that were happening as a result of Team Rocket trying to control Suicune's power. They knew I was trying to stop them though, so they trapped all my Pokemon with some kind of electric containment generator so that I wouldn't be able to use them. It was all up to me now. After I tried to fight off the Team Rocket members myself, I was able to get by them and free Suicune from the containment system it was being held in. Now free, Suicune suddenly scooped me onto its back and we defeated Team Rocket together, this time, once-and-for-all as once they were defeated, I used Politoed to put them to sleep and Suicune then used Ice Beam on them, freezing them in a block of ice. With the two completely immobilized, I was able to turn them in Officer Jenny so they could be arrested. Because of all their actions, they were sentenced to prison for life."

"Well, they get what they deserve." said Bonnie.

"Agreed. But my story with Suicune doesn't end there. After Suicune and the Whirl Islands were saved, I went over to Cianwood City to heal my Pokemon and rest up for the night. But while I slept, I had a dream, and for some reason, it was Suicune telling me travel north of the city first thing in the morning. Once I woke up, I did just as my dream told me to do, and there it was, Suicune at the beach north of the city, and by the way it looked at me, I could tell it wanted to battle me."

"You challenged Suicune?" said a surprised Clemont.

"Yeah I did. It was like Suicune saw something in me when I rescued it from Team Rocket. It was a challenging battle, but at the end, after one last Shadow Claw from Typhlosion, I actually managed to defeat Suicune."

"And that what happened?!" asked Bonnie who was very interested in the story.

"After we defeated it, Suicune stood back and looked at me in the eye with its regular calm-looking face. It then nodded towards me. I was confused at first, but after a while, I finally figured that it wanted me to catch it."

"WHAT?!" the three other trainers said in surprise.

"Hard to believe, I know. But it was all because Suicune saw something in me. Not only did it acknowledged my strength during our battle, but it knew I also helped rescue its fellow Legendary Beasts and how much I loved and cared for my Pokemon. So with all that now settled, I pulled out a Pokeball, and captured Suicune." After saying that, Jimmy took out Suicune's Pokeball from his belt. "I would show you guys right now, but I don't want to cause too much attention."

"That's really cool!" said Serena.

"I really wish I could see it!" said Bonnie.

"It must be a huge honor being able to possess a Legendary Pokemon like that!" said Clemont.

"If I had to be honest, it took some time for him to adjust to the team and, well, get everyone else, um, not scared of him. But with some bonding time, Suicune quickly became a great teammate to everyone else!"

"What did you do after that?" asked Serena.

 **(plays Cid's Theme from Final Fantasy VII)**

"Well, I went back to New Bark Town to cool off for a bit, I mean, challenging a Pokemon League and rescuing three Legendary Pokemon in two years was really something that can tire out a trainer. Two years later though, I decided to travel to the neighboring Kanto region to compete in the Kanto League. That's when I met my biggest rival, Silver Kamon."

"How did your rivalry start?" asked Clemont.

"I was on the S.S. Aqua, sailing towards Vermillion City, to start my second journey. One day, I was exiting my room to use the bathroom, and then suddenly, he ran into me. After that, we just... argued like little kids to the point where we challenged each other to a battle. It was three-on-three, and I used Politoed, Sudowoodo, and Typhlosion while he used Kingdra, Rhyperior, and Feraligatr. The battle ended up in a draw. I tried to talk with him afterwards, but he just ran off again, and for some reason, I couldn't find him anywhere else on the boat the day after. It was like he took off the boat himself because he was in a rush for something. Our rivalry came to be due to how equal we both were. While we both cared for our Pokemon, his style of training and treatment is much more aggressive, something I don't necessarily agree with. We met again a couple more times throughout the Kanto region and every time, we argued and battled each other. Sometimes I won, sometimes he won. One time though, I actually managed to ask him why was he always in a rush, and he replied he was just looking for someone that was none of my business. I respected that, though we still argued time after time due to our different personalities."

"Sounds like quite the intense rivalry." commented Clemont.

"It was, and we had an even win-loss record with each other. After I collected eight Kanto gym badges, I challenged the Indigo Plateau Conference, and that's when I had my final battle against Silver in the final round. It was a long battle, probably one of the toughest I had in my life, but I was able to win. After the battle, I tried to find him, with hopes of now figuring out why he's always in a rush, a maybe a little of his past too, but he was nowhere in sight. Just like always, he ran without a given reason. And I never saw him again afterwards."

"Sounds like quite the mysterious person." commented Serena.

 **(plays Boss Theme from Kirby's Return to Dream Land)**

"Yeah he is. Well, after I beat, since it was the finals, I won the league and moved onto the championships. I defeated every member of the Elite Four and I actually got to challenge the Champion of the Kanto League during that time: the Dragon Master himself, Lance!"

"You really challenged Lance yourself?" asked an amazed Clemont.

"I sure did, and let me tell ya, it was one of the coolest battles in my life. With so many attacks back and forward, along with our Pokemon either running or flying everywhere, everything felt so intense. Politoed defeated his Charizard, but lost to his Altaria, Togekiss tied with Altaria, a lot of awesome things happening. At the end, after his Dragonite defeated Suicune, it was now between Typhlosion and Dragonite. We gave that match our very best, blow after blow, dodge after dodge, one strategy after another, and after a huge collision of Flame Wheel and Dragon Rush... we lost.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." said Serena.

"Nah, don't be! I mean, it's great enough to be able to battle the Champion afterall! An opportunity like that is one that I will always treasure!"

"So you won both the Kanto and Johto leagues? That's pretty cool!" said Bonnie.

"And I bet once you returned to New Bark Town, the fans were just crazy, right?" asked Clemont.

"Ugh, yeah. I kid you not, I was instantly mobbed by fans when I arrived back home. Man, I swear I was gonna run out of air when I was surrounded by so many people asking stuff like 'how do I feel winning two leagues' or 'what do I plan to do next'. I think Pichu was almost hugged to death by so many screaming fangirls. Right buddy?"

Pichu nodded, horrifyingly remembering that dreadful experience.

"Have you done anything else after the Kanto League?" asked Clemont.

"To tell you the truth, not much. I just settled down for a while until one year later, Professor Elm called for me to visit his lab. He wanted me to explore Mt. Silver, which by then, had been labeled as the most dangerous area of all of Kanto and Johto."

 **(plays Thorntail Hollow Well from Star Fox Adventures)**

"Y'see, throughout the years, Mt. Silver had gone through things like several avalanches, landslides, Pokemon attacks, so many calamities. Even Silver Town and the Silver Conference was destroyed by the many disasters, causing the Johto League to be moved to a town north of Blackthorn City. Because of all that, Mt. Silver has become a heavily restricted place, with the only people allowed to enter the base are trainers who have been given permission by certain people high in authority like the Pokemon Professors themselves. But even the few trainers allowed to go just come back hours later, with reports saying they were either scared off or wiped out by the wild Pokemon or the disasters that happen there, or in some rare cases, they are mysterious found unconscious near the gate entrances leading to the base. These trainers claim the last thing they remember was being defeated by a powerful, yet unknown trainer at the top of the tallest mountain and then finally succumbing to the strong snow storm. That unknown trainer is called the 'Legend of Mt. Silver," though while many believe in his existence, others don't and claim it's just a rumored myth. Even the trainers who made it to the top say that he was an illusion caused by the effects of the harsh snow storm."

"I heard about the rumored Legend of Mt. Silver too," pointed out Clemont. "I heard recently that a Pokemon Poacher was capturing Pokemon at the base of the mountain range, only to be supposedly stopped by the Legend, along with his Pokemon, though it's unclear whether or not this is true as there were no witnesses during his time at the base."

"Oh yeah, I heard about that too. Plus, when Officer Jenny found the poacher, he had appeared out of nowhere on the streets of Viridian City, unconscious. Going back to Professor Elm, the reason why he wanted me to explore Mt. Silver because he needed someone strong and capable enough to research the landscape and Pokemon."

As Jimmy talked about his time at Mt. Silver, Serena was thinking to herself. Mt. Silver was the only area of all of Kanto and Johto that she didn't search for Ash for as she wasn't able to gain approval of access. Heck, Mt. Silver was the only place of all the Pokemon World she hasn't looked at. While she was disappointed at first, she soon gave up on trying to go there, figuring Ash wouldn't run away somewhere that was close to his home or a danger to his Pokemon, but then again...

"I couldn't turn down the chance of an awesome adventure, so I said yes. I prepared myself by packing up with tons of essentials like medicines, and I was even allowed to bring all my Pokemon with me for the extra safety, but when we got there," Jimmy then turned sadly to his Typhlosion and Pichu, who returned the same glances before he continued on, "it was just too much for us to take. The terrain was hard to go through, the Pokemon were insanely powerful, and the weather conditions were awful! The higher we got, the more worse the snow storms got, and not even Typhlosion was able to take it! I swear I almost got myself killed multiple times due to either Pokemon attacks, or sudden disasters."

"That sounds horrible." said Bonnie.

"Denene."

"How did your research at Mt. Silver go though?" asked Clemont.

Jimmy sighed and said, "Well, I got enough that I could. To sum up everything I wrote down in my journal; large and scary Pokemon everywhere, avalanches are common, the higher you go, the colder it gets. That was pretty all I could get down before I was chased by a wild Steelix. I was looking for some fresh water in a cave and I had all my Pokemon in their Pokeballs for their safety, and then there it was, a humongous Steelix speeding down towards with me with the probable intention of kill. I was too scared and shocked to send out a Pokemon, so I ran for it. It never gave up and eventually, it chased me out of the cave and I tripped on a rock and fell off the mountain side. Luckily, I fell in a raging river below, but the impact caused me to lose all consciousness. When I finally woke up, I was back in front of the gate that led to the base. Thankfully, I didn't had any real injuries and all my Pokeballs were safe, but now that I had a real life experience of the treacherous mountain range, I vowed to never go back. Things like that are just never worth it, it was just that dangerous of a place to go. I went to back New Bark Town afterwards to present Professor Elm my research. He understood what I went through and he apologized for sending me over there, but I told him not to worry about it. Now heavily exhausted, I just went back home and off to bed."

"Aw man, that sounds really rough. No wonder they restricted that place." commented Bonnie.

"I'm thankful to know you were able to survive though." said Clemont.

"Thanks."

"Did you ever see the Legend of Mt. Silver during your time there?" asked Serena, who now had certain thoughts in her mind.

"Nope, nor any hints of him. Heh, I guess it's all just a rumor afterall."

"Oh, okay." said Serena with a small tug in her heart.

"It really was a life-threatening and terrifying experience, but hey..."

 **(plays Route 29 from Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver)**

"I would be lying if I would to say it wasn't fun. And now, two more years later, here I am in the Kalos region, once again off to collect eight gym badges and compete in the league with my wonderful Pokemon." Jimmy said this as he stroke Pichu's head and patted Typhlosion's, who all enjoyed their trainer's affection. "And I met a lot of cool friends too! For example, you guys!"

"That's one of the many great things about adventures," said Bonnie as she hugged Dedenne. "You meet so many friends and catch a lot of cool Pokemon!"

"That couldn't be more true!" Jimmy happily agreed.

By now they were done talking, they had all finished their snacks, or in Serena's case, her coffee, which had made her feel wide awake now. Speaking of Serena though, she now had deep thoughts over what Jimmy was saying. Mt. Silver, the only location of all the Pokemon World she hadn't searched at. Could Ash truly be there, even how dangerous it has gotten? And now that she thought about it, the rumor of the Legend of Mt. Silver started like a year or two after Ash had disappeared. Was it a coincidence, or perhaps a connection? Also, was Jimmy telling the truth about his experience of Mt. Silver? For some reason, deep down, she could sense there was something hidden in his story. Something she had to know...

 **(plays At Dawn ...for Speed Highway from Sonic Adventure)**

After exiting Cafe Classe, the gang resumed on their Bonnie-led tour of Lumiose City. Unfortunately, even with Clemont's device, the tour lasted til' the evening.

"And that's Lumiose City!" said Bonnie as her brother and friends sweatdropped behind her.

"I must say, it's a pretty cool city." said Jimmy.

"It sure is! And if one thing's for sure, many parts of the city wouldn't be possible if it weren't fir the top electrician and inventor of the city, my brother Clemont!"

"That reminds me," said Clemont, "I think it's time for the gym's annual generator check-up."

"Annual generator check-up?" questioned Jimmy.

"Yeah, couple of years, I built a powerful generator within the Prism Tower to serve as a backup power source for Lumiose City in case a problem were to arouse at the Kalos Power Plant again. I built it myself, but I have to check it every so often to make sure there's nothing wrong. Don't want another sudden blackout." Clemont then started his way to the Prism Tower. "This probably won't take too long, so I'll see you again soon!"

Bonnie followed her brother. "Clemont, I'll go with you! If you accidentally hurt yourself, I'll be there to help!"

And with that, Jimmy and Serena were alone. Before any of them could say anything, Jimmy heard his stomach growl, indicating he was hungry. Typhlosion and Pichu sweatdropped at this.

"Heh, guess I'm hungry. I think I'll go over to one of those fancy restaurants Bonnie showed me. What do you guys think?"

"Typhlo!"

"Pichu!"

"Great! Hey Serena, wanna join us?"

"Sure! In fact, I know the perfect place."

"Really now? What is it?"

Serena walked in front of Jimmy to lead the way.

"Just follow me. You'll be surprised in the end, but it'll have a lot of good food. Plus, it's a place I can actually be myself instead of Serylah."

"Alright, sounds great! Can't wait!"

"Good!"

As Jimmy, Typhlosion, and Pichu followed Serena, the girl turned towards to him to ask him a question she actually has been wanting to ask since she met him, especially now hearing what he has doing prior to his Kalos Journey. She couldn't ask him before because Clemont and Bonnie were around.

"Hey Jimmy, can I ask you something?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"Do you know a boy from Pallet Town named Ash Ketchum?"

* * *

Woo! Another chapter done! Yays!

In case anyone got the wrong message at the end, Serena and Jimmy ARE NOT dating, this is just a perfect opportunity for Serena to find more clues of Ash now that Clemont and Bonnie are gone.

I apologize if some of Jimmy's stories might be, in a way, off-puting. I'm not really good in explaining backstories like that.

Also, there's a hidden Pokemon XY joke in the last chapter and a RWBY joke in this chapter. First one who gets both gets a cool prize!

Thank you all for reading and please leave a review of your thoughts, ideas, questions, music choices, etc.

Also, HYPE for Pokemon Sun and Moon!


	6. Chapter 5 - Silver Revelations

Sorry for the delay everyone, I'm back in college now. I promise I'll do my very best to keep this fanfic updated!

Also, I really want this to be noticed: In Chapter 3, there's a hidden joke relating to the Pokémon X and Y games (hint: it's a glitch) and in Chapter 4, there's a hidden RWBY joke! The first person who finds both jokes gets an awesome prize!

Well anyways, here's Chapter 5! Please enjoy!

* * *

"Hey Jimmy, can I ask you something?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"Do you know a boy from Pallet Town named Ash Ketchum."

Jimmy and his Pokémon paused for a bit until Jimmy finally spoke up and continued on walking.

"Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town? Wasn't he the guy who mysteriously disappeared eight years ago?"

"Yes."

"Well, I knew of him, but I never really knew him personally. Sorry."

"So you've never seen him at all? Not in any of your journeys?"

"Yep. Well actually, back during my Kanto journey, I stopped by his hometown, Pallet Town, to visit Professor Oak. During my time there, I was challenged by another trainer and I won, and after that, Ash Ketchum's mom, Delia Ketchum, came up to me to tell me how my "battling spirit" was so similar to her son's."

"Can't say I'm surprised."

"Because of how much I reminded her of her son, she politely asked if I would like a meal over at her house. Knowing she was a mother of a disappeared child, I knew how lonely she must've felt, so I said 'yes'. Over at her house, that's where I saw many pictures of Ash Ketchum, like there was one with him in a light-blue and white jacket holding his Pikachu with many of his Pokémon surrounding him at Oak's lab."

Serena knew what he was talking about. The picture of Ash after his Unova journey. Serena had seen it too during her search for Ash at Kanto. It was one of Delia's greatest treasures.

"So with that said, I guess I can say I know what he looks like, but ever since he disappeared, I haven't seen a single real life trace of him."

The four walked some more for a bit until Serena spoke up again.

"You know, that Ash Ketchum... I was one of his many friends. You could almost say he was one of my... best friends and I could never ask for a friend better than him, but now that he's gone, life has been drastically different."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been a huge tragedy when you learned he disappeared, huh?"

"You have no idea."

Realizing he made a mistake in his words, Jimmy quickly tried to lighten things back up.

"Whoops, sorry! I didn't mean it like that, I-"

"Oh no, it's okay, really. You don't mind if I continue on about Ash? I don't wanna make this night depressing for you."

"I wouldn't mind at all. Of course you can go on."

"Alright."

 **(plays Ilia's Theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess)**

"I knew Ash ever since we were little kids attending Professor Oak's Pokémon Summer Camp together. I met him when I got lost in the woods and injured my knee, and back then, I was afraid of Pokémon, so I felt trapped and doomed. That was, until he came and helped me back up on my feet and out of the woods. For the rest of the year, he was the one I always looked up to. Whether I was frightened by Pokémon or bullied by other students, he was always there to protect me. All that changed when the year was over and graduation happened, and then my mom and I moved back to Kalos. Though, besides a small little diploma, I did gain a lot of things from my experience at the summer camp; I was no longer afraid of Pokémon and I made a friend who I could always admire."

"Did you see him again after that?"

"I did. Four years later, not too long after I reached my tenth birthday, I was watching the news and I saw him, Ash Ketchum, facing off against Professor Sycamore's Garchomp on top of Prism Tower. I was surprised. I always wanted to see him again after I left Pallet Town, but I never expected to see him fighting a dragon on top of one of the region's most famous landmarks. That's when I remembered the handkerchief he gave me as kids, and that I never returned it, so on the very next day, I decide to finally start my own Pokémon journey to return that handkerchief. I went to Lumiose City to receive my starter from Professor Sycamore and chose Fennekin. Sycamore told me Ash was on his way to Santalune City, so I decided to go that way too. When I finally caught up to him, he didn't recognize me at first, but after I showed him the handkerchief and helped him win against Viola with the same encouraging words he told me as kids, he finally remembered me. From there on out, I traveled with him throughout the entire region. With him around, I was able to find my true passion in life, Pokémon Showcases, and with his encouragement, I was always ready to try my best in reaching my dream of becoming Kalos Queen. Outside of showcases and gym battles, we had a ton of crazy adventures. There was a time I helped him learn how to ride on Rhyhorn, one time we both fell off a cliff though I fell first and he tried to save, and there was this one time where he got a fever and I had to dress up as him to battle another trainer's Pikachu."

"That journey with him really must've been a blast."

"It really was, but sadly, all good things must come to an end. Near the end of our journey, Team Flare attacked this city with a brainwashed Zygarde after Ash lost the Lumiose Conference, ranking as runner-up. Instead of running away though, we all fought back against the villains. It was almost like war honestly. At the end, we managed to defeat Team Flare and save Zygarde and the entire region of Kalos. With Team Flare defeated and the Kalos League over, it was now Ash's time to leave the region. Before he left, he promised he would see me when I compete in the Master Class Gloire Showcase again, but unfortunately, that evening at the airport was actually the last time I ever saw him as the very next day was when he suddenly disappeared. I was shocked when I heard the news and I tried to deny it at first, but when the realization finally came through my head, it became unbearable. My childhood friend, the one I always looked up to, the person who helped me keep my head up in any situation, no matter what it is, gone. Just, suddenly gone! But I didn't just give up, instead, I traveled to all the regions and chain islands he had journeyed through in the past in hopes of finding. Too bad for me, despite taking about six years of my life to find him, I just couldn't get any trace of him."

"You searched for him for six years?"

"Yeah, desperate, I know."

"Oh no, it's not desperate or anything like that. It's actually really thoughtful."

"Heh, yeah, tell that to my friends. They all thought I was crazy, but I didn't care. I just wanted to find him. I mean, he was always there for me at camp, he was always willing to cheer me up when I felt down, I couldn't give up. I guess you could say I may have some feelings for him. Even when I slowed down on my search after I was done with Unova and the Decolore Islands so that I could focus on becoming Kalos Queen, I still took every small chance I had to find any clues on Ash's disappearance without anyone knowing, except Bonnie, though she understands, unlike many of the others. The reason why I'm still searching is because I just know he's still out there, somewhere. I can feel it in my heart. He's still alive somewhere in the world and I need to find him!"

Hearing all this, Jimmy was silent until Serena stopped in her tracks and turned to face him.

"Jimmy, I want you to look directly in the eye and tell me honestly, are you sure you have not seen anyone else during your time at Mt. Silver?"

"...I'm sorry Serena, but I did not see anyone over there."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I am!"

"Jimmy, please tell me truth!"

"I am telling you the truth!"

Pichu saw the intensifying conflict arise between his master and Serena and he jumped off Jimmy's shoulder to intervene, but Typhlosion stopped the younger Pokémon from doing anything, telling him that they shouldn't get between them and that it will probably be for the best.

"I know you're lying," shouted Serena, who was now in tears, "I just know from my heart that the story you told us of your time at Mt. Silver isn't completely true! Jimmy, I'm sorry for coming off like this, but I absolutely need to know the truth! You have to understand, I know you saw someone else at Mt. Silver, probably and most likely the Legend, and I have a good feeling that it could be Ash! Please Jimmy, I need to know!"

Jimmy silently stared at Serena for a bit until he looked down to his Typhlosion, who nodded towards his trainer. Jimmy nodded back. It was time to reveal Serena his secret that he swore he would never tell anyone, but this time, it's different. Serena deserves to know this secret, knowing a certain friend were to do the same if he were to become missing.

"Alright Serena, you got me, I did see someone else over at Mt. Silver."

A small glance of hope glowed in Serena's eyes. Jimmy was then about to explain more, but Serena quickly interrupted him, saying, "Jimmy, you don't have to explain more right now. You can continue on when we reach the place to eat at."

Jimmy nodded and said, "Alright."

 **(plays Event: The Base from Sonic Adventure 2)**

Serena led Jimmy, Typhlosion, and Pichu to a small alley close to Rouge Plaza, showing them some kind of restaurant. Despite the questionable location for a restaurant, it actually looked pretty good.

"Whoa. What is this place?" asked Jimmy.

"The Sushi High Roller." answered Serena with a smirk.

"Did you just say 'sushi'?" questioned Jimmy. Serena only grinned at him as she casually walked into the facility and Jimmy and his Pokémon followed.

 **(plays Sushi High Roller from Pokémon X and Y)**

Walking into the Sushi High Roller, Serena was immediately greeted by the bouncer who wore some kind of martial artist outfit.

"Well, well, well, if isn't the Kalos Queen herself, Serena." the bouncer friendly greeted.

Jimmy was surprised that the bouncer was able to recognize Serena in her Serylah disguise, as during his time at Lumiose City, no one else (with the exception of Clemont and Bonnie of course) did.

The bouncer then turned to the manager at the receptionist desk and said, "Sir, Serena has returned here once again."

"Is that so?" asked the manager. He then saw Serena walk over to him as she took off her disguise, revealing her regular attire. The manager smiled and said, "Serena, it's been a while. How have you been?"

"Not much. Just the regular hiding from public and searching for Ash business."

"Really now? How has your search been lately?"

"These people know of your search?" asked a surprised Jimmy as he and his Pokémon went up to the desk where Serena was.

The manager took notice of the boy and asked, "Serena, is this a new friend of your's?"

"He doesn't look very stylish enough to be here." said the bouncer as he grabbed Jimmy's shoulder, causing Typhlosion to growl at him.

"Don't worry about him," Serena told the bouncer, "he's with me for tonight, plus he has competed in two Pokémon Leagues and won, so that should make him qualifiable to be here."

"Hm, yeah, I guess that's impressive." said the bouncer as he took his hand off Jimmy's shoulder and respectfully backed away, causing Jimmy to sigh out of relief.

"Anyway, this guy's name is Jimmy and he hails from New Bark Town of the Johto region. He's a new friend of mine and he actually has some info that could help me in my search."

"Is that so? Then he's more than allowed to dine here," the manager respectfully told Jimmy before he turned to a waiter. "Waiter, please seat these two immediately and tell the chefs there will be no battles for them tonight. They have some important business to talk about amongst themselves."

The waiter bowed and said, "Yes sir."

Serena, Jimmy, Typhlosion, and Pichu then followed the waiter to a two-seat table over at a corner, a little far away from the other patrons

"Sorry if that was all awkward for you," Serena whispered to Jimmy, "these guys are very strict of the people they dine here."

"It's no biggie." said Jimmy as he rubbed the shoulder the bouncer grabbed.

Approaching their table, Serena and Jimmy sat down (Pichu hopped off his trainer's shoulder and onto the table and Typhlosion sat beside his trainer's seat) and the waiter handed both of them menus.

"What would you two like to eat tonight?"

"I'll just take the regular oshizushi please." said Serena.

"Very well Serena," said the waiter as he wrote down Serena's order on his notepad before turning to Jimmy. "And what about you?"

Jimmy looked through the menu, wondering what to get, though it was pretty hard to decide considering the tremendous prices.

"Don't worry Jimmy, get whatever you want." said Serena.

Jimmy looked up to see Serena smiling at him with a shining credit card between her right index and middle fingers.

"It's all on me."

Jimmy smiled and looked through the menu again, finally deciding his choice.

"I'll just take some nigiri please."

The waiter nodded and wrote down Jimmy's order. He then went off to the kitchen and soon later, a furisode girl came out and served Serena and Jimmy their orders and walked away.

The two dined and Jimmy shared his sushi with Typhlosion and Pichu.

"So, about my time at Mt. Silver..." Jimmy spoke up as they ate, "what I was telling you and the others at the café this morning, I actually was telling the truth up until the 'running away from Steelix' part."

"I kinda figured. You seem too strong of a trainer to just run away from danger."

"Heh, thanks. Anyway, in reality, I did my best to avoid the wild Pokémon of Mt. Silver as I knew that while my Pokémon were able to take them, it would've been better to keep their energy so that going up the mountain would be easier. During my time at Mt. Silver, I primarily focused my research within the tallest mountain of the entire place and midway up the mountain, I actually did encounter a giant rampaging Steelix, though instead of running away and falling off the mountain, I just jumped into the lake where I was getting water at. The Steelix waited for me to get out, but it eventually gave up and went away."

"What did you do after that?"

"Well, even though by then I had more-than-enough research of the terrain and Pokémon, I kinda got carried away and continued my way up the mountain. You see, I just thought it was so awesome getting higher and higher, I didn't wanna stop. But like I said before, the higher I got, the worst the weather conditions became, and considering much of the path leading to the top was outside and not in caves, yeah, it was no cakewalk."

Serena looked down in thought for a little bit. To think Ash would disappear to such a place is beyond her. Yes, he's done plenty of crazy stuff before, but going to a mountain range filled with deadly snowstorms and Pokémon? Just... what could be his reasons?

"Did you ever make it to the top?" asked Serena after she brought her head back up to face Jimmy.

"Yep. After about four days of rock climbing, waterfall surfing, and ignoring all the frostbite, I finally made it to the top of the tallest mountain of Mt. Silver. The blizzard up there was unforgiving and it was so rough, I could barely see a thing, but for some reason, I just kept going. Honestly, looking back, I don't even know why I even wanted to reach the top in the first place. There were no wild Pokémon or any type of ancient landmark, but maybe deep down inside of me, I guess I kinda wanted to see the mythical Legend of Mt. Silver."

 **(plays Trainer Red Epic Orchestral Remix by DJTheFishhead)**

"And as it turns out, I actually did."

"Do you remember what he looked like?" asked Serena. It was now time to see if this Legend is really Ash.

"Well, it was kinda hard to get a good luck because of all the snow, but I could tell that he was very tall and muscular, his hair seemed dark and spiky, and the only clothes that he was wearing was a pair of tattered pants, spiked wrist and ankle bands, and a red and white hat. There was also a Pikachu standing next to him too."

Dark and spiky hair, a red and white hat, and a Pikachu. Serena knew she was right. The Legend of Mt. Silver is Ash.

"I saw him standing on top of the mountain's peak and he and his Pikachu were staring down at me and Typhlosion. I called out to him, asking for his name and if he was the 'Legend' everyone keeps talking. He didn't say a single word, instead, he just pointed towards me and his Pikachu jumped down a few feet away from me and upon landing, it stood on all fours with electricity sparking from his cheeks. At first, I thought he commanded his Pikachu to attack me, but after one look at the man's face, I figured he was challenging me to a battle."

"Sounds like him. Ash, I mean." said Serena, knowing Ash's love for battles. "How did it go?"

"Well, I'll just tell you how it all went so you can determine that for yourself. After I gave myself and the Legend a good battlefield distance and decided the best team I should use for the battle, I started off with my Donphan, hoping the type advantage would give me the win, but I was wrong. Dead wrong. At the beginning of the battle, he pointed towards me again, apparently his way of telling me that I have the first move. I had Donphan start off with Earthquake, but his Pikachu dodged the attack completely by using Iron Tail on the ground to counter the tremors. I then had Donphan use Rollout, but Pikachu was too fast to be hit, and man, that Pikachu is definitely the fastest Pokémon I've ever seen. Pikachu then fired a Thunderbolt towards Donphan. Since ground Pokémon are regularly not affected by electric attacks, I didn't told Donphan to dodge, but that was a big mistake, as the attack actually damaged Donphan, really bad in fact. After the attack, Donphan was struggling to stay on his feet, only to be met by a fast and powerful Volt Tackle, taking Donphan out."

" _Wow. Pikachu sure has gotten strong over the years._ " Serena commented to herself.

"The most crazy thing about that whole match is, besides Pikachu's electric attacks harming Donphan, is that the man did not spoke a single word, yet I could tell by his Pokémon's face that he was still giving commands somehow, kinda like telepathy."

Hearing this surprised Serena. Ash always had a way of making powerful connections with his Pokémon, but now he was somehow able to talk with them in their minds. What has Ash been doing these past eight years?

"I recalled Donphan and switched to Suicune. Instead of staying with Pikachu, his Pokémon returned to his side and he then took out a Pokéball and released out a huge Blastoise. At first, I thought Suicune's power would've given me the advantage, but once again, I was wrong. I had Suicune start off with Extrasensory, but Blastoise easily blocked it with Withdraw. Within his shell, Blastoise then charged towards Suicune with Rapid Spin, so I told Suicune to counter that with Giga Impact, but Suicune was easily overpowered. Suicune still had some energy left, so I told him to use Hydro Pump. Blastoise though used Hydro Pump as well and the two attacks met in the center of the battlefield. It looked even at first, but within mere seconds, Blastoise's Hydro Pump overpowered through Suicune's and hit him, launching him right past me and into a mound of rocks. And with that, Suicune was knocked out."

Serena was even more surprised hearing this. She knew Ash has battled and beaten Legendaries before, but now he was able to defeat them with no sweat.

"My next Pokémon was Togekiss and his was Snorlax, the biggest one I've ever seen. When he was sent out, his landing shook the entire mountain. I almost lost my balance, though his trainer looked barely fazed by the brief earthquake. Back to the battle, I wanted to overwhelm Snorlax with ranged attacks, so I told Togekiss to fly up high in the air and use Aura Sphere. Snorlax easily deflected Aura Sphere, even when I told Togekiss to fire more in a faster pace. The next thing that came from Snorlax was a powerful Blizzard attack, and since we were already in a snowstorm, the attack easily hit Togekiss, freezing him in a block of ice before he plummeted back to the ground where he was finished off with one Heavy Slam."

"The next one I sent out was Ambipom while his next one was Venusaur. I was surprised to see a Pokémon like that in such a cold area, but by the looks of it, that Venusaur was well trained enough to ignore the freezing climate and be completely unaffected by it. I had Ambipom start off with Double Hit, but both of his tails were grabbed by Venusaur's vines and then he was slammed to the ground. Venusaur was then about to hit Ambipom with a point blank Energy Ball, but thanks to Agility, Ambipom was able to avoid the attack in just in the nick of time. I then told Ambipom to use Swift and Venusaur countered with Razor Leaf, completely slicing through Ambipom's attack and hitting him. Ambipom barely pulled through that attack, but he was soon taken out by a fearsome Solar Beam attack. I must say, it was almost weird seeing such a strong Solar Beam in the weather we were at, but considering what I had seen from him beforehand, I wasn't too surprised."

"I was now down with only two Pokémon, and I almost considered to give up until I saw him giving me some kind of look that was telling me to stay strong and don't give up on my Pokémon, so I kept going and released my second-last Pokémon, Politoed, and we were now facing off against his Lapras. At the start of that match, I had Politoed use Hypnosis on Lapras to put her to sleep, but even though the hypnotic waves made contact, it somehow had no effect!"

"Do you think perhaps she had used Safeguard to defend herself from the attack?"

"No as there was no trace of any type of shield when she was hit by the attack. His Lapras then fired an Ice Beam towards Politoed, but Politoed was able to dodge it and we tried to fight back with Dynamic Punch, but when Politoed got close, Lapras used Psychic to stop him in midair and then slam him onto a giant stone. Politoed tried to get back into the battle, but Lapras took him out quickly with Thunderbolt."

"With Politoed out, I was now down with only Pokémon while he still had all six, with one not even being sent out yet, but I didn't back down. My challenger would've been disappointed in me, so I sent forward my last Pokémon for the battle: Typhlosion. The Legend sent out his last Pokémon: Charizard. Now, I've battled many Charizard before, but his Charizard was definitely the most beastly, ferocious, and humongous one I've ever battled. His flame was so hot, the snow melted just for being near him, heck, I could feel his heat from where I was at despite being several feet away from him. Despite how scary Typhlosion's opponent looked, we stood strong and remained battling. We started off with Flamethrower and they used Flamethrower as well. Just like the Hydro Pump between Suicune and Blastoise, the attacks met in the center, but Charizard's Flamethrower overpowered through Typhlosion's, but Typhlosion was able to dodge in time. We then tried to use Eruption, but all the molten rocks were destroyed by a single Fire Blast before any of them could get even close to Charizard. The next attack we tried was Shadow Claw, but Charizard easily deflected Typhlosion away with Dragon Claw. Our very last option was Flame Wheel, but when Typhlosion got close, his Charizard just grabbed Typhlosion with one hand, stopping the attack. His Charizard then took off into the air like a jet and defeated Typhlosion by throwing him to the ground straight from the sky with Seismic Toss."

Serena was speechless on hearing this story. She knew Ash was a strong trainer, but now he's on a whole new level. He completely trashed Jimmy's team and is able to battle in a snowstorm on top of probably the highest mountain in the world.

"With Typhlosion unconscious in the snow, I ran up to him to make sure he was alright, but like all of a sudden, the storm became worse. I held onto Typhlosion as the blizzard started to bury us deep in the snow. Because of how cold it got, I started to lose all consciousness and I felt too weak to get a medicine from my backpack or send out another Pokémon. I thought it was all gonna be over for me."

 **(plays Dragon Roost Island (starts at 0:13) from The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker)**

"That is, until moments later, I finally woke up and I found myself lying down on a bed leaves next to a lake full of fresh water. I got up and I saw many fire-type Pokémon sitting around me to keep me warm. A Torkoal, an Emboar, an Infernape, a Talonflame, the same Charizard I fought at the peak, and a Typhlosion, which at first, I thought was mine before it viciously snarled at me when I tried to pet it, something that _my_ Typhlosion would never do. I then started to look around the entire area I was in, which was inside a tall and wide mountain crater. It was surprisingly full of foliage and there were many other types of Pokémon all around. That's when I noticed that my Typhlosion and the Pokéballs of the Pokémon I had recently used were gone until they came out of nowhere running to me, all fully healed up. Before I could ask where they were, we were suddenly offered some berries by the Venusaur that we had fought and a leaf full of fresh water by a Greninja."

All the Pokémon Jimmy mentioned were all-too-familiar to Serena, especially the Pikachu, Talonflame, and Greninja. Many of the others were Pokémon Ash's friends told her about when she was searching for him and by the sound of things, many of them have evolved.

"And then that's when I saw him. The Legend of Mt. Silver in plain view walking towards me with his Pikachu on his shoulder and a Meganium and Lucario walking beside him. He told me he had his Meganium and Lucario heal my Pokémon and asked me if I was alright. I said 'yes' and then I asked him for his name. His answer: Ash Ketchum."

"I thought so," said Serena as her eyes glew from tears of relief and gratitude. "Of all these years, I've been searching high-and-low for Ash without any success, but now thanks to you, I now know where he's at. And I know he's alive too."

"I'm happy you know where your friend is. Also, your friend is quite the powerful trainer. Apparently, when I fell unconscious after our battle, he took me in his crater home instead of having his Charizard fly me down to the bottom like he has done for all the other trainers who made it to the top. The reason why was because, according to him, whenever he looked into my eyes during our battle, he saw the 'never give-up' spirit and the love and trust I had for my Pokémon that reminded him of his, unlike his previous challengers, and he offered to train me in my skills as a trainer."

"He offered to train you?"

"He sure did. To be honest with you, before I met him, despite my accomplishments, my battling skills were okay at best, well, in his standards, and my win-loss record was not as impressive as you may think, but under his training, WOOOOO, his skills and power were something else!"

"Hm, how so?"

"Well, remember that trick Typhlosion pulled off in our battle yesterday where he redirected Luxray's Swift back at him by jumping behind him. That was one of the many types of strategies he taught me. The same goes for many other tricks like Pichu using Iron Tail to launch him to the air or Politoed adjusting to a certain angle to have Hypnosis make contact for sure."

" _So that's why he reminded me so much of Ash when he was battling Clemont. His spirit was just like Ash's and Ash was the one who taught him all the strategies and techniques he used._ "

"He trained me for about a week. He didn't want to keep me around for too long since he knew my friends and family at home would get worried. His training was intense, but it was also pretty fun, despite how mean his Pokémon were at times." Jimmy said, recalling all those times Ash's Pokémon attacked him when he tried to pet them. One example would be the time he tried to pet Ash's Staraptor, only to be whacked by his Steel Wing into a tree.

"Did you ask him why he went up to Mt. Silver in the first place?"

"I did, but he said it was a secret. I tried to ask him some more, but his response was always the same, plus the more I asked, the more his Pokémon got angry at me."

"So he never told you why he disappeared from everyone?"

"Nope. Sorry."

But why? Why would he not tell anyone why he disappeared from his friends and family to Mt. Silver. There just has to be reason and she has to find out.

"Once the week was over, he was about to have his Charizard drop me off at the bottom so I could return home, but before I left, he had me to promise to never tell anyone where he was at, his battle and training with him, and that he was the Legend of Mt. Silver. I kept my promise, not telling a single soul until now. I was reluctant at first, but after seeing how much you truly care for your missing friend, I figured you deserve to know."

Serena smiled at Jimmy and said, "Thanks for telling me all of this, Jimmy. You're a great guy."

 **(plays Peace for the Galaxy from Star Fox Command)**

Serena and Jimmy then proceeded to finish their meals. Serena payed the bill with her credit card.

Upon leaving the Sushi High Roller, Jimmy went up to Serena and said," Thanks for buying us dinner Serena, it was really nice of you. Right guys?"

Typhlosion and Pichu both nodded.

"It was no problem Jimmy. Thank _you_ again for telling me where Ash is."

"Of course. Well, I think it's about time to resume on my journey."

"Oh, you're leaving already?"

"Yeah sorry, but I had a truly great time here, thanks to you and your friends. Tell them I said 'goodbye' for me, okay?"

"Sure! And best of luck when you reach the Kalos League!"

"Thanks!" Jimmy and his Pokémon then turned around and started making their way to the gates leading to Route 14. "And best of luck to you on your search for Ash!"

"Thanks."

Waving goodbye, Serena saw Jimmy leave Rouge Plaza and into the Route 14 gate. She then sighed to herself before she looked up to the high full moon above.

"Ash, I now know where you are. Even if you don't want me to, I'm going to find you and figure out why you disappeared in the first place. And hopefully by the time I reach you, I can finally let you know how I've felt about you ever since the very day I met you when we were kids. Yeah, hopefully. My search is almost to its end."

Serena then felt her phone buzz in her right jacket pocket. Pulling it out, she saw she had just received a text message from her mom, asking her if she plans to come home soon, which she remembered she promised to do before she went off to Ambrette Town. Looking back up to the sky, Serena knew that a good night's rest would be wise before flying over to Kanto, so she went back to her phone and replied "yes" to her mom's question. Serena then looked through her messages to see that Bonnie had sent her one while she was having dinner with Jimmy. She must have been too entranced by Jimmy's story to notice. Reading Bonnie's message, it said:

'Hey Serena, sorry if we're taking too long! The generator is fine, but Chesnaught somehow got himself stuck in a bunch of wires when he "tried" to help (smiling face with open mouth and cold sweat emoji)'

Serena started to text back, leading to a texting conversation.

'It's fine Bonnie, sorry I didn't respond sooner. Jimmy got hungry after you two left, so I took him out to eat at the Sushi High Roller. After we were done eating, Jimmy had to leave to resume on his journey, but he said 'goodbye'.'

'Awww... ): I wanted to see his Suicune! Oh well, we're almost done getting Chesnaught out right now, so do you wanna stay over for the night?'

'Sorry, but no. I promised my mom I would return to Vaniville for the night.'

'Aww, okay. Have a nice night! See ya tomorrow and tell Grace I said 'hi'!'

'Thanks Bonnie. Goodnight.'

Now done with their conversation, Serena put her phone away and walked out of the city via the Route 4 gate. While the walk there was long, she didn't have to worry about people seeing her due to how late it was. Now on Route 4, Serena released Charla from her Pokéball.

"Hey girl, do you think you could fly me home?"

Charla nodded and lowered her back for Serena to get on before taking off to Vaniville Town.

Serena and Charla reached the calm and peaceful town in no time and after Charla quietly landed before her trainer's house, Serena recalled her back to her Pokéball. She then knocked on the door and Grace quickly opened it up, happily greeting her daughter in a soft hug.

"Serena, sweetie, where've you been?"

"Oh, y'know, just hanging with Clemont and Bonnie and meeting some new people. Nothing outta the ordinary."

"No fans or photography this time?"

"Nope. I remembered my disguise this time, so no loss of oxygen this time."

"That's great. Well, (yawn) better get to bed now. It's getting awfully late. I made your bed for you."

"Mom, I'm 18. Do you really think I still need my mother to make my bed for me?"

"You're still my daughter." Grace teasefully sang as she walked back into her home as Serena pouted and followed her in.

"Whatever. Goodnight mom." Serena walked upstairs to her room.

"Goodnight sweetie."

Entering her room, Serena saw the day's annual pile of fanmail on her desk close to the closet. Ignoring it for now, Serena changed into her pink pajamas, placed her Pokéballs on the small table next to her bed, and lied down on her bed with heavy thoughts in her mind.

" _Ugh, what should I say to my mom before I leave for Kanto? I can't tell her I'm looking Ash or else she'll freak out. Hmm, maybe I could lie to her that Professor Oak wanted to see me and since the Kanto airport is close to Pallet Town, I could tell the Professor himself to cover for me in case mom were to ever call him. I mean, he could keep secrets, right? Then again, what should I tell him when I visit Pallet? If I tell him I'm looking for Ash, he might stop me and call mom. I could tell him another lie, but what if it's completely from the one I told mom and if she calls and asks him how I'm doing with subject being different from the one I told her, then he could get suspicious. Hmm, what about Delia? Wait, wait, that wouldn't work either. I would have to come up with a different lie for my mom and another one for Delia and then there's chance that mom would call and if I were to ignore Delia completely, then mom would be mad and- AAAHHHHHH! I need to sleep!_ "

Serena closed her eyes and slept through the night, hoping to think of good plans tomorrow. But if there was one thing she was excited for, she was going to see Ash again. Mt. Silver is going to be a hard place to go through, but she believed she could do it from the bottom of her heart. There's nothing in the world that could stop her, at least that's what _she_ thinks.

* * *

Oh, poor Serena. Thinking her search is all gonna be easy for her, but in reality it won't be. Not only does she have to come with lies to tell her mom and friends on why she's going to Kanto, but also somehow get the approval to enter Mt. Silver and then scale up the entirety of the largest mountain, after going through the lakes, hills, and the ruined Silver Town beforehand of course. Oh, what is she going to do?

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I want to say thank you for all the great reviews so far! They really mean a lot and I especially want to give a shoutout kurifu gari for the idea of Ash training Jimmy. I was a great idea and I really appreciate it! That goes the same for every else who has left nice reviews! Speaking of reviews, don't forget to leave one if you'd like to share your ideas, critiques, music ideas, questions, your general thoughts, anything you want!

Don't forget I will give an awesome prize to whoever finds the two hidden jokes in Chapters 3 and 4 first!

Have a nice day!


	7. Chapter 6 - I Know I Can Do It

Sorry for the delay (college is pain), but I'm back with another chapter! WOO-HOO! Hope you all enjoy!

Here's something I feel stupid about: not giving a description of Serena's Serylah disguise. If anyone's curious, I imagine for her disguise to be, from top to bottom, a blue cycling cap, a pair of shades, a black trench coat dress, and a pair of zippered black boots. (these are all from the XY games)

About the jokes of the Pokémon XY games and RWBY in chapters 3 and 4, yeah, never mind about those. No one got them, so I'll just put up another prize thing later.

Also, HOORAY for 100 followers for this fanfic! Seriously, thank you all so much! I never even dreamed of this fanfic even making it that far, so this is really awesome honestly! You all rock and I love you all!

Anyways, that's all I have to say so, once again, please enjoy!

* * *

 **(plays Spiran Scenery / Spira Unplugged from Final Fantasy X)**

On the very next day, the morning sun rose high up above Vaniville Town as its beautiful and warm light shined down and peaked through the closed drapes of an open window onto an already empty bed. Nearby that empty bed was Serena, who had already changed into her regular attire.

Normally, since Serena is a heavy sleeper, her mom always had her Fletchling to wake her up, but not today. Starting this morning, she's going to be serious for now on. She now finally knows where Ash is after all these years and it's her goal to set out to find him. Thankfully, there weren't any Pokémon Showcases she has to attend to in a while, so that's one thing outta the way, but there's still a lot more that she'll have to overcome to at least reach Kanto. And the first thing is her mother.

"Serena, breakfast is ready!" Serena heard her mom from downstairs.

Serena sighed to herself and said, "It's time." before she grabbed her six Pokéballs and made her way downstairs.

"Coming mom!"

In the bottom floor of her house, over at the kitchen counter, Serena saw her mom pouring orange juice in two cups next to a plate with a stack of pancakes. After Grace was done, she then saw her daughter already downstairs, and for the first time in forever, before 8:00 A.M.

"Good morning mom!"

"Good morning sweetie! My, it's quite a surprise seeing you up so early for once! Got something planned for today? I don't recall hearing about any upcoming showcases for this month."

"There's no showcase mom, it's... something else."

"Oh, what is it then?"

"I'll explain when we eat, I'm gonna get my Pokémon their food."

"Hm, alright. Would you mind if you also brought out Fletchling and Rhyhorn's food too? I already got their's ready." Grace said as she placed two food bowls, one big and one small, full of pokémon food on the counter.

"Sure thing!"

Serena took out six more food bowls from the cabinets and filled them all up with pokémon food. Stacking all eight bowls together (with Fletchling's on top), Serena carefully made her to the front door where she opened up to reach her front yard. After making it to Rhyhorn's little pokémon house, Serena placed the tower of food bowls onto the ground and she took her mom's two Pokémons' bowls on the grass near Rhyhorn's house.

Smelling breakfast, Rhyhorn and Fletchling (who was in the trees) woke up from their slumber and walked toward/flew down their bowls before happily greeting Serena.

"Rhy!"

"Fletchling!"

"Good morning to you guys too!" Serena pleasantly said as she petted the both of them.

The two household Pokémon started to munch of their food as Serena took the other six bowls and spread them out. She then took out her six Pokéballs and threw them to the air.

"Everyone, time to eat!"

Delphox, Pangoro, Sylveon, Absol, Walrein, and Charla all emerged from their capsules and happily joined Rhyhorn and Fletchling in breakfast.

Serena smiled at her six dear friends and she silently approached them, causing all six heads to bring their heads away from their bowls and look at their trainer's face.

"Guys, I'm going to talk with my mom over, well, you know, so I just the discussion to be just between the two of us and no one else. You all understand, right?"

All six of the loyal Pokémon nodded. Having to have heard Serena's conversation with Jimmy last night from their Pokéballs, they knew what Serena wanted to talk about with her mom and agreed that it'd be best they just stay out and not get involved with the upcoming mother-and-daughter talk.

Serena once again smiled at them and she turned around and went back into her house. Inside, Grace was already sitting at the dining room table with a plate of pancakes and a cup of orange juice. On the other side were the same contents for her daughter. Serena slowly closed the front door behind her as she stared at her mother who was starting to eat up her meal.

Eighteen years under her care, Serena loved her mother dearly. She was extremely loving and caring for her daughter, but she always knew what was best for her. Letting her go on a Pokémon journey, allowing her to change her dream from Rhyhorn Racing to Showcases, even letting her explore several other regions to look for Ash, but despite all that, Serena knew things are going to be different soon. When Serena finally made it back to Kalos, she and her mom had a heartfelt talk over how Grace thought she was losing her daughter due to her mad search and this made Serena realize that if she were to continue on, it would only give Grace the same pain Delia received when her son disappeared, so from that day, Serena promised to never risk putting her mom in that type of pain.

But it has to be different now. Unlike before, she won't be mindlessly wandering around an entire region, it's all just one mountain range, so it's not like she'll be gone for a long time. Plus, she's 18 now, so she has to make her own decisions. Throughout the night, Serena originally planned to come up with a lie on her reason of going to Kanto, but after much thinking, she figured it would only cause more pain than it would to tell the truth. It's now all in the matter of trying to make her understand.

"So mom, about the plans I have for today..."

"Oh yes, what are they? My curiosity's piqued."

"Alright. I plan to fly over to Kanto."

"Kanto? What do you have over there?"

While Grace was okay with her daughter flying over to another region (as long she doesn't spend _too_ much time there), she's really curious on why she would go there in such a supposedly random time.

"Well mom, I want to go over to Mt. Silver, and I know it's been labeled as one of the most dangerous locations of the entire world, but right now, I don't care about that."

"But, why would you want to go there?"

...

"I want to look for Ash."

 **(plays How She Sees The World from Bioshock 2)**

"Serena, please tell me you're joking."

"I'm sorry mom, but I'm not. Last night, I met this guy who had went to Mt. Silver not too long ago, and when he reached the top, he saw him, Ash, my friend who I've always been looking for, who also turns out to be the Legend of Mt. Silver!"

"Sweetie, the Legend of Mt. Silver is only a myth and even if it was real, there's no way it could be Ash."

"He is, that guy told me himself."

"And how do you know he wasn't lying?"

"Because I could both _see_ and _hear_ his honesty, from the look of his eyes to the sound of his voice. He was lying to me at first because he was suppose to keep Ash's location a secret, but after we talked for a little bit, that was when he told me the truth once he figured how much I want to find Ash."

"So you think Ash Ketchum is at Mt. Silver just because a guy you just met told you so? And you "saw" and "heard" the apparent honesty? Serena, I'm sorry, but you're talking like a child."

"But I'm not a child, I'm eighteen! Mom, I'm an adult now, you should know I am able to take care of myself."

"I do know sweetie, and I've always trusted your independency even before you reached that age, it's just that...that...I don't want to risk permanently losing you. You may feel going though Mt. Silver might seem no problem, but it's not. There-"

"I know mom. Avalanches, vicious Pokémon, snowstorms, deadly climates, and maybe even some wandering Pokémon poachers, but I dealt with plenty of those things before. Plus, I'll pack well, I'll dress warm, I'll bring all my Pokémon, and Palermo has even taught me how to fight for myself! Mom, I'll be fine!

"You don't understand!"

Grace slammed her fist on the table as she said that, causing the pancakes on her plate to bounce and her cup of orange juice to nearly fall over.

Outside, the Pokémon all heard the loud noise. Curious and concerned, Rhyhorn and Fletchling glanced at each other before Rhyhorn started to make his way to the front door to check up on his master and master's daughter, only to be stopped by Delphox after just a few steps, telling the older Pokémon to just leave whatever's going on in there between their trainers.

"You may think you're able to handle it, but you're wrong!"

"But I know I can do it!"

"How do you know Ash could still be at Mt. Silver anyway?! What if he moved away?"

"Well, I know you're gonna think this will sound childish again, but I can feel his presence there with my heart! He's out there, at the top of the highest, I need to find him! I need to find out what were his reasons for disappearing from everyone eight years ago and hopefully get him back down to his friends and family again!"

"Serena-"

"Mom, I love him!"

A minute of silence occurred once those words left Serena's mouth. Grace knew of her daughter's feelings for Ash and being reminded of that made her think; if, by chance, Ash really was at Mt. Silver, would she just be hurting her daughter? Even though Serena promised to tone down her search after she returned from the Decolore Islands, Grace's heart could easily detect that Serena still really wanted to find Ash and that always made her feel a little guilty deep down since she was one of the most notable individuals who encouraged Serena to take it easy.

Conflicting thoughts now rushed all over Grace's head. She didn't want her daughter to be internally hurt anymore, but she also didn't want Serena to die. As Grace thought about her decision, she soon found herself wrapped in a hug courtesy of her beloved daughter.

"Please mom, I just want you to understand. If I were to find Ash, not only would it help me, but also Delia, Ash's other friends, anyone he had connected to before he disappeared. I at least just want to make sure he's okay. I promise I'll stay safe and I won't get my Pokémon too hurt. Just please mom, give me at least one chance."

Grace sadly stared at her daughter for a moment. She was still unsure whether to allow her daughter to do this or not.

Just then, an idea popped into Serena's mind.

"Mom how about this? What if I battle and defeat one of the strongest trainers here in Kalos, that way, I would prove to you that as a trainer, I'll be more than capable of taking on Mt. Silver!"

 **(music stops playing)**

This sounded really intriguing to Grace. This region was full of really strong and experienced trainers and if her daughter were to actually defeat one, that would prove a lot.

"Hm, I guess, but what trainer do you have in mind?"

Serena smirked and said, "Let's just go over to Lumiose City and then you'll see."

 **(plays RWBY Episode 5 The First Step Part 2 Score (starts at 0:18) from RWBY)**

Like a blur, Serena dashed back up into her room and went back down in her Serylah disguise.

"Lumiose City?" questioned a confused Grace.

"Yep!" Serena gleefully answered and she grabbed her mom's hand and dragged outside. "Come on! We can take Charla to get there!"

In the front yard, Serena happily announced to her Pokémon that they're going to Lumiose City. They were all confused at first, but they quickly complied as Serena recalled all of them, except for Charla, back into their balls. Grace, while still confused herself, told Rhyhorn and Fletchling to watch the house while they are gone. Then in less than a minute, Serena and Grace got onto Charla's back and the female dragon ascended to the air, awaiting for the chosen destination.

"Alright girl, off to Lumiose City!"

Charla excitedly roared and flew towards the central city of Kalos. As she flew, her trainer quietly whispered to her where exactly she wants Charla to land in Lumiose City. The dragon nodded and continued on flying.

"Sweetie, this region is full of challenging trainers. I really hope you know what you're doing."

"Of course I do mom! You should preparing yourself for the intense battle you're about to see soon!"

Even though Grace was still unsure of having her daughter go to Mt. Silver and she really had no idea what Serena has planned now, she couldn't help but smile at her daughter's confidence. She really has grown up to be a strong, independent lady these past 8 years.

* * *

 **(plays The Sycamore Pokémon Lab from Pokémon X and Y)**

Not too long later, Charla landed right on the spot her trainer wanted to drop off at: Professor Sycamore's Laboratory. Serena and Grace got off the dragon's back and Serena thanked Charla as she recalled her back to her ball.

"Thanks so much Charla. Now return."

"So Serena, are you going to tell me now what trainer you're going to battle?"

"He's right in there." Serena said with a grin as she pointed to the laboratory.

Now knowing who her daughter wants to battle, Grace alarmingly asked, "Serena, are you sure you want to battle him?"

With a confident smile, Serena turned and made her way to the lab door and said, "Positive."

Inside the lab, the ever-so kind and generous professor of Kalos was seen tending to the newly received starters of Chespin, Fennekin, and Froakie as his Garchomp happily watched on, pleased to see the smiles of the younger Pokémon. Professor Sycamore then heard a knock at his lab doors, so he went up to the doors to open them, seeing one of his favorite trainers, Serena, in her Serylah disguise as always.

"Serena! It's good to see you after such a long time! How have you been?"

"I've been fine professor! Thanks for asking! Hey, I've come to ask you for a favor, do you mind?"

"Not at all Serena! You can ask me for anything you want!"

"Alright then. Professor Sycamore..."

"Yeah?"

 **(music stops playing)**

"I challenge you to a battle!"

"E-excuse me?" asked the surprised professor.

 **(plays Event - Strategy (Slower) from Sonic Adventure 2)**

"Yes Professor Sycamore. I wish to challenge you to a battle so I could prove to my mother that I am capable enough to scale to the top of Mt. Silver over at the Kanto region."

"Mt. Silver? Why would you ever want to go to such a treacherous place?"

"Cause I know Ash Ketchum is there."

"You really do?"

"I sure do, so it's _really_ important I battle you and hopefully win to prove my power! Also, I know it may seem really hard to believe that Ash could be at Mt. Silver, but please believe that I know from my heart that he's there, so please professor, could you do this for me?"

Professor Sycamore stared hesitantly at Serena for a bit. This all seemed so sudden, but thanks to his intelligence, he was able to easily comprehend what Serena had just told him and what she's asking for. And even though Serena was right in that it was hard to believe that Ash could be at Mt. Silver, Sycamore could tell by the determination in her eyes that she knows what she's talking about.

"I understand what you're saying Serena, but what if you lose?"

"Then I would see myself that I'm not ready as I think I am and I will train for a rematch at a different date." Serena humbly answered.

Hearing this, the professor smiled at the confident and mature trainer.

"Alright. Then you got yourself a battle."

"Thanks so much professor! And for our battle, are you fine with a 4-on-4 double battle?"

"Sounds fine with me," the professor replied as his Garchomp approached from behind him, having to have heard the word 'battle'. "You think you're up for it?" Sycamore asked his faithful dragon.

"Garcho!"

"Great! And now holding back! Also, I know the perfect referee." Serena said as she took her phone out.

* * *

Few moments later, Serena and Sycamore were positioned on a Pokémon Battlefield not too far from the lab with Clemont in the middle as referee and Bonnie next to him. Around the entirety of the battlefield watching the battle (besides Grace) were many civilians of Lumiose, intrigued to see a supposedly random girl battle the region's local Pokémon professor.

"Hey bro, why is Serena challenging Professor Sycamore to a battle?" Bonnie whispered to her brother.

"I don't know," Clemont whispered back, "after I came over here when Serena texted me, I asked her why, but she told me it was a secret for later."

"Hm, oh well." Bonnie said suspiciously.

Bonnie then walked a few feet away from her brother to give him space for his job.

Grace stared worriedly at her battle-ready daughter, hoping the best for her in this fight. Amongst the crowd, she heard many civilians say things like "who is that girl and why is she challenging Professor Sycamore?" or "For some reason, the girl looks very familiar." or even "This is gonna be an awesome battle! I love seeing Professor Sycamore fight!"

Within her disguise, Serena also heard the small comments from the people watching her battle, making her realize this is the perfect time to do something she always wanted to do since the very first day she was mobbed by fans after she became Kalos Queen...

But not right now. Let's wait for a little more.

Serena and Sycamore both nodded towards Clemont, indicating they were ready. Clemont nodded back and shouted out, "This will be a 4-on-4 double battle between the Kalos Pokémon Professor, Professor Sycamore, and Serylah of Aquacorde Town! Substitutions are allowed for both sides! Trainers, are you both ready?"

"I sure am!" responded Sycamore.

"And so am I! Also, my name is not 'Serylah', and I'm not from Aquacorde Town! Instead, my name is..."

 **(plays Love is Blue Equipped from Bayonetta 2)**

Before finishing her own announcement, Serena threw off her blue cycling cap and replaced it with her natural pink fedora. Next, Serena unbuttoned her black trench coat dress and threw it away to reveal her regular pink dress-red jacket attire underneath. She then unzipped her black boots, hopped out of them, and took out her preferred brown boots out of her backpack to put them on. Lastly, Serena took off and unclipped her shades, threw them to the air, and impressively positioned her body for them to land right into her open backpack.

"...Serena, and I'm from Vaniville Town!"

The crowd of people were utterly shocked at what they just saw. The new girl battling Professor Sycamore was none other than their own Kalos Queen herself! Grace, Bonnie, Clemont, and Sycamore were also surprised that Serena would do just such a thing at the moment. The feeling of shock among the crowd quickly turned into excitement as they all cheered for their Kalos Queen, expecting an awesome battle between her and the regional professor.

"It's time for me to show everyone that I'm not just a queen, I'm a trainer!"

This statement from Serena caused her mom and friends to smile. It was now her moment to show that showcases are not her only talent, but battling too, as well as showing her bond and trust between herself and her Pokémon.

"Alright," started Clemont, "now that we know the real identity of Sycamore's opponent, it's time for the trainers to send out their Pokémon!"

Sycamore took out his first two Pokémon and threw them up above the battlefield.

"Charizard and Blastoise, come on out!"

From Sycamore's two Pokéballs came the two fully-evolved starters of the Kanto region. The both of them looked tough and ready for a challenge.

Seeing these strong opponents, Serena grinned and threw out her own Pokéballs to the battlefield.

"Delphox and Pangoro, here we go!"

Out from the capsules were Serena's first two Pokémon ever. On the battlefield, they stood tall and strong, anticipating for the battle to start.

"Alright, battle begin!" shouted Clemont.

 **(plays Battle! VS Friend from Pokémon (Anime))**

"Charizard, use Wing Attack on Pangoro! And Blastoise, use Water Pulse on Delphox!"

As soon Sycamore finished saying that command, Charizard's wings glew white and he took off towards Pangoro as Blastoise fired two orbs of water towards Delphox.

"Delphox, protect yourself with Light Screen! Pangoro, when Charizard gets close, grab his wings!"

Both Pokémon nodded as they watched the attacks get nearer and nearer. Delphox used her magical branch to conduct a psychic purple shield in front of her, protecting herself from the Water Pulse.

Pangoro kept his eyes on Charizard and obeying what his trainer said, Pangoro put his arms out and grabbed Charizard's wings when he got close. The large panda was pushed back a little, but he stood his ground and kept his palms on the Wing Attack, putting the two in a tight struggle as they tried to push back the other.

"Now use Dark Pulse, Pangoro!"

Hearing this, Pangoro smirked and fired beams of dark circles from both of his hands, sending Charizard back towards Blastoise's side.

"Great job Pangoro!"

"Watch this! Charizard, Flame Burst on the center of the battlefield!"

Sycamore's Charizard flew over the center of the battlefield and fired the Flame Burst attack straight to the ground, creating a huge cloud of smoke all over. Delphox and Pangoro cautiously looked around their area, unaware of their opponents' location.

"Charizard, give Pangoro a Flamethrower!'

After landing back on the ground, Charizard fired Flamethrower to Pangoro's direction. Pangoro was able to hear the command in time, so he crossed his arms in a defensive position to lessen the damage, though he was still pushed back as the attack kept going on.

"Protect Pangoro with Light Screen, Delphox!"

Delphox ran towards Pangoro and produced another shield, this time in front of Pangoro to protect him from the Flamethrower.

"Blastoise, use Skull Bash!"

Serena and her Pokémon were surprised to hear this command until they all saw Blastoise charging through the smoke to Delphox and Pangoro's direction, head first, phasing straight through the Light Screen and hitting both Pokémon, sending them back as the smoke cleared up.

"Clever move. Pangoro, fight Blastoise back with Arm Thrust!

The large panda jumped back to his feet and ran towards Blastoise, who was only a few feet away.

"Iron Defense!"

Blastoise tucked his head, cannons, arms, and legs into his shell as the giant armor shined like metal, just before Pangoro reached him. Pangoro then slammed his white-glowing hands repeatedly on the turtle's shells, though no having little-to-no effect due to Blastoise's high Defense.

As Pangoro was busy with Blastoise, Serena directed her command to Delphox.

"Delphox, use Mystical Fire on Charizard!"

Delphox, who was now up from the previous Skull Bash attack, swung her branch in a circle in front of her, forming a ring of fire. She then fired a stream of flames from her mouth, fusing with the ring as it headed towards Charizard, who was still in the air.

"Counter that with Flamethrower!"

Charizard fired his own stream of flames from his mouth and the attack met with Delphox's Mystical Fire in the air.

As the fire attacks tried to push back the other, Serena shifted her eyes below to see Pangoro still pounding on Blastoise's shell, giving her an idea upon seeing the distance between Charizard and Blastoise.

"Use Psychic on Blastoise!"

As Delphox still fired Mystical Fire from her mouth, she pointed her branch towards Blastoise, lifting him up to the air with her psychic power as the turtle remained hidden in his shell.

"Now throw him to Charizard!"

Swinging her branch to the left, Blastoise was flung over to Charizard's belly just as he was retreating his head, cannon, and appendages from his shell, damaging both Pokémon and leaving them to fall on the ground. Upon landing, Blastoise was on top of Charizard, making it hard for both of them to get up due to Blastoise's heavy weight.

"Pangoro, now use Stone Edge!"

Pangoro side-flipped in front of Delphox and slammed his right fist on the ground to summon a line of sharp stone pillars towards Blastoise and Charizard. The attack landed its hit, blasting both Kanto starters back in front of their trainer.

"Blastoise, Charizard, are the both of you okay?"

Blastoise was able to get up from the attack, though he struggled for a bit due to the huge amount of damage he sustained from the attack. Charizard, on the other hand though, wasn't so lucky as due to his quad-weakness to Stone Edge, suffered even more damage and after a failed struggle back on his feet, the dragon's head and upper-torso fell down to the ground, knocked out.

"Charizard is unable to battle! Professor Sycamore, please send out your next Pokémon!" announced Clemont.

Sycamore nodded and he recalled Charizard back to his ball.

"You did your best, my friend. Please rest up from this battle. I must admit Serena," said Sycamore as he put away Charizard's Pokéball and took out his thirst one, "you sure have gotten better over the years."

"Thanks! Same to you."

"We're not done yet though. Venusaur, here we go!"

The fully-evolved grass starter of Kanto was released from Sycamore's third Pokéball. Venusaur stood right beside Blastoise, ready for battle.

"Venusaur, use Petal Blizzard, and Blastoise, Iron Defense!"

Blastoise withdrew into his shell again as Venusaur released a huge storm of pink petals from his flower, spreading out in the entire battlefield. Blastoise, being the nearest, was hit first and while he was protected with his shell, he still some small, yet minor damage. Meanwhile on Serena's side, Delphox and Pangoro both saw the pink petals get closer to them.

"Dodge all that Delphox! Pangoro, defend yourself with Stone Edge!"

Pangoro stomped his right foot on the ground, bringing up a single stone pillar in front of him that he used as a shield for the Petal Blizzard. Delphox somersaulted underneath some petals before backflipping and side-flipping over some more until the attack ended.

"Aqua Tail!"

Just as soon after the Petal Blizzard finished, Delphox was suddenly struck by a powerful jet of water coming from the tip of Blastoise's tail. The fox was down, but not out.

Serena thought to herself upon seeing this attack. Venusaur and Blastoise working together is going to be tough to go through. While Pangoro would be able to keep up thanks to his strength and durability, it will be harder for Delphox as Venusaur's ranged attacks could keep her at bay, giving Blastoise the perfect opportunities to land his water moves on the fire/psychic Pokémon. Perhaps someone more mobile could turn the tide.

"Delphox, return!" Serena called out as she recalled her starter. She then took out another Pokéball and threw it to the air.

"Charla, come on out!"

Serena's own Charizard appeared from the Pokéball, and she roared upon release.

"Blastoise, use Water Pulse on Charla!"

"Counter it with Air Slash!"

Charla flapped her powerful wings to release multiple white air-made blade discs towards Blastoise's Water Pulse, canceling both attacks.

"Use Petal Dance on Pangoro, Venusaur!"

From Venusaur's back came a stream of petals heading for Pangoro.

"Pangoro, focus on the attack and fight your way through to Venusaur with Arm Thrust!"

Pangoro nodded and focused his eyes on the incoming Petal Dance. At the right moment, Pangoro rushed to the attack and with careful precision, used Arm Thrust to punch the petals away as he ran for Venusaur. When he finally got close, he slammed his fists twice on the grass/poison Pokémon's face, pushing him back.

After a small fist pump, Serena focused her attention back on Charla and Blastoise. While Charla was a really strong fighter, her attacks won't be able to do much to Blastoise due his high Defense. The only way to bring it down is to, of course, hit it with something super-effective, and that solution is right next to Pangoro.

"Charla, use Slash and land yourself behind Pangoro!"

Charla flew towards Blastoise and slashed him with her white enlarged claws before spinning up and landing a few feet behind Pangoro.

"Both of you, Aqua Tail and Petal Dance!"

"Dodge!"

As soon both attacks from the Kanto starters begun, Charla flew back to the air and Pangoro side-rolled away, leaving for Blastoise's Aqua Tail to fire right underneath Venusaur's Petal Dance, causing the two of them to get hit by each other's attacks. Blastoise suffered the most as Petal Dance was a grass attack and he struggled to stay on his feet, now severely damaged.

"Finish Blastoise with Dark Pulse!"

"Iron Defense, quick!"

Unfortunately for Sycamore, Blastoise was too tired to use Iron Defense, allowing him to get hit by Pangoro's Dark Pulse, which was just enough to defeat him.

"Blastoise is unable to battle! Professor Sycamore, please send out your last Pokémon!"

Sycamore recalled Blastoise and took out his last Pokéball. Before he threw it out, he brought his head back up to see Serena smirking at him. He smirked back, she was ready for the main course.

"My old friend Garchomp, show them your power!"

The professor threw the dragon's Pokéball and the said land shark was released, who let out a terrifying roar. The whole crowd enthusiastically cheered, excited to see the strongest Pokémon of the Pokémon Professor.

Serena smiled at the powerful Garchomp. This would be tough, but it's also her chance to prove her strength to her mother, so there's no way she's gonna give up.

"Alright guys, let's do our best! But first, let's take out Venusaur first and do your best to avoid Garchomp's attacks!"

Charla and Pangoro both nodded.

"Venusaur, use Synthesis!"

"No you don't! Charla, use Fire Spin!"

Just as Venusaur's flower started to glow white and absorb the sunlight for health, Charla fired a stream of spiraling flames to him, landing its hit and trapping Venusaur in a ring of fire, completely negating Synthesis due to the constant damage.

"Bring Charla down with Dragon Claw!"

Garchomp flew towards Charla with both of her fins surrounded by green aura in the shape of claws. Charla tried to avoid her attack, but was soon hit with a downward, strike, bringing her to the ground, but not fainted just yet.

Another idea came to Serena's mind. While Charla can distract Garchomp, she can switch Pangoro for Delphox to give Venusaur more fire attacks which would bring down the grass dinosaur faster.

"Pangoro, return!" Serena called out as she returned Pangoro to his Pokéball. "Don't worry buddy, you'll be back out soon. Go, Delphox!"

In place of Pangoro came Delphox, who was still little hurt from the last time she was out, but still ready to do her best for her trainer.

"Charla, do you still feel good?"

Charla turned to her trainer and gave her a thumb-claw up.

"Great. Distract Garchomp with Slash and keep her away from Delphox!"

Charla nodded and flew high to the air as Garchomp followed, with the two dragons striking and blocking each other with Slash and Dragon Claw.

"Venusaur, try to blow away the Fire Spin with Petal Blizzard!" Sycamore called out, bringing his focus back to the Kanto grass starter as his Garchomp battled against Charla in the air, trusting her she knows what she's doing.

"Mystical Fire quick!"

Venusaur tried to activate the attack, but the non-stop exposure to the flames of Fire Spin had him too exhausted to use Petal Blizzard, giving Delphox the perfect chance of hitting him with Mystical Fire, knocking him out.

"Venusaur is unable to battle! Professor Sycamore is now down to only one Pokémon!"

Everyone watching the battle were either shocked, overly impressed, or both. Serena was able to take down three of Sycamore's Pokémon while she still has all four, albeit, three of them have already taken a huge amount of damage. It really comes to show that she's more than a performer; she's a strong Pokémon Trainer.

"You go, Serena!" cheered Bonnie.

"Denene!"

Grace was on the point of crying tears of joy and pride. She was so proud of how strong of a trainer her daughter has gotten.

Just then, Charla was suddenly seen landing hard on the ground, having to have suffered a heavy hit again from Garchomp's Dragon Claw.

"Charla, are you okay?" Serena concernedly asked the dragon just as Garchomp landed back in front of her trainer. Charla weakly stood back up and gave her trainer another thumb-claw up to tell her she's still able and willing to battle.

Serena nodded at her dragon before turning her head to face Sycamore once again as he started to speak out to her.

"You've gone so far as a trainer ever since I gave you Fennekin eight years ago. Not your only has the power of your Pokémon and your inner strength has grown, but also the bond and trust you have for your Pokémon. I am very proud, but there's way we're backing down yet."

After Sycamore said this, he brought out his left arm and flipped the watch on his wrist to its other side, revealing his Key Stone underneath.

"Serena, it's time we show you how _our_ bond has gotten stronger as well! Garchomp, Mega Evolve!"

 **(plays Master Hand from Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U)**

Professor Sycamore tapped on his Key Stone to activate his Garchomp's Garchompite, transforming her into her more bulkier and spikier Mega Form. After the evolutionary process was over, Garchomp roared and the crowd went wild.

"You believe in you, sweetie. I know you can do it." Grace whispered to herself.

Back to Serena, the real challenge was finally here, but neither her or her Pokémon are not gonna give up until it's over!

"Let's do this guys! Delphox and Charizard, use Mystical Fire and Flamethrower all together!"

Both of the fully-evolved fire type starters simultaneously launched their attacks, combining them together to make one huge stream of fire.

"Guard yourself with Dragon Claw!"

Mega Garchomp's fins were surrounded with a green claw-shaped aura once again and she positioned them in a defensive pose, effortlessly blocking the stream of fire despite how humongous it was.

"Now give them your Dragon Pulse!"

Mega Garchomp fired the multicolored dragon-shaped beam towards Serena's fire types and they both managed to avoid the attack. However, due to the power of the attack, it created a huge blast on the ground that sent Charla higher to the air against her will and Delphox to fly off the ground, though she managed to regain her composure and safely land on her feet.

"Delphox, give it all you got and use Psychic!"

Mustering up all her energy, Delphox pointed her branch towards Mega Garchomp and actually managed to grab her with her psychic power, allowing Delphox to repeatedly slam her to the ground, even lowering her Special Defense a couple of times.

After one last slam, Mega Garchomp was left on the ground, but she was able to quickly get back up, appearing completely unharmed from the attack. Delphox though, due to all the strength she used for the Psychic attack, was now looking extremely worn out.

"Take out Delphox with Dragon Claw!"

In blinding speed, Mega Garchomp flew towards Delphox and struck her with Dragon Claw, launching her right beside her trainer, knocked out.

"Delphox is unable to battle! Serena, please send out another Pokémon!"

Before she did what Clemont said, Serena kneeled down to her faithful starter Pokémon and she held her head up as she comforted her.

"Delphox, you did a wonderful job. I couldn't thank you enough."

The magical fiery fox opened her eyes and weakly nodded to her trainer with a smile.

"Delpho..."

Serena smiled back at her best friend and she took out her Pokéball.

"Please, return and take a nice long rest."

Delphox was recalled back to her capsule and Serena stood back and took out Pangoro's.

"Alright Pangoro, it's back to you!"

From his Pokéball, Pangoro returned to the battlefield, pounding his fists in excitement.

" _Delphox did her part on Sycamore's Garchomp. Now let's hope Pangoro and Charla can do theirs'._ " Serena thought to herself.

"Garchomp, use Dragon Pulse!"

As Mega Garchomp's Dragon Pulse went its way towards Charla and Pangoro, the large panda, without needing an order, stepped in the attack's direct path and brought his arms out, hoping to completely block the attack. It worked at first, but then the power of Dragon Pulse became too much to bare, damaging Pangoro.

"Are you alright, Pangoro?"

In response, Pangoro shook off the damage, grinned, and pulled down his sunglasses over his eyes, showing he was ready for more.

"That's the spirit! Pangoro, use Dark Pulse!"

Pangoro fired the ray of dark circles towards Mega Garchomp, who only flew up away from the attack, leading it to hit the ground behind where the dragon was at and cause debris to fly out.

"Now angle your arms a little lower and spin around!"

Listening to his trainer's commands, Pangoro readjusted his arms to have the Dark Pulse he was firing to hit the ground more precisely and he then rotated a full 360, ruining the battlefield ground around him.

"Hm, I wonder what's her plan now. Garchomp, use Crunch on Pangoro!"

Mega Garchomp's teeth glew white and she flew down towards Pangoro who had just finished using Dark Pulse.

"Defend Pangoro with Slash, Charla!"

Charla quickly flew in front of Pangoro and quickly used Slash to block Mega Garchomp's attack from her partner, leading to the land shark's teeth biting down on her claw.

"Garchomp, bring her down!"

With on mighty downward thrust of her neck, Mega Garchomp threw Charla down and slammed her on the ground.

"Hammer Arm!" Serena quickly commanded her Pangoro.

Due to how sudden this command was from Serena, Sycamore couldn't react time as he saw the panda bring his red-glowing fist down towards his Mega Garchomp's head. The only thing Mega Garchomp could do was bring her fins out in a defensive position, allowing to slightly block the attack while getting pushed back in front of her trainer as she landed back to the ground and skid on her feet.

As Charla once again got back up, Serena gave another command to Pangoro.

"Use Stone Edge and keep it up!"

Pangoro slammed his fists on the ground non-stop, sending multiple pillars of stone to Mega Garchomp's direction.

"Destroy all of them with Dragon Claw!"

As the stone pillars got near Mega Garchomp, she only destroyed them all with Dragon Claw, though Pangoro still kept going, like his trainer said.

"There's no way you can tire us out, Serena! Garchomp, keep going and stay strong!"

As Pangoro kept using Stone Edge, Charla turned her head to Serena, who nodded to her. Charla nodded back and she silently flew closer to Mega Garchomp. Sycamore noticed this in time to give another command for his Mega Pokémon.

"Charla's sneaking up! Tried to defend yourself from her!"

Unfortunately for Sycamore, his Pokémon was still defending herself from Pangoro's endless Stone Edge entourage to keep focus on Charla as the fiery dragon flew faster to her.

"Garchomp look out!"

"Give her an up-close Flamethrower!"

Before Mega Garchomp could react, she was struck by a point-blank Flamethrower right to her face, though it didn't appear to do much damage. Charla flew back to her trainer's side, next to an exhausted Pangoro who had ceased his storms of Stone Edge. Serena anxiously stared at Mega Garchomp, hoping what she had planned work. At first, it seemed like it didn't, until Mega Garchomp was suddenly engulfed in a brief, but huge flame, showing she had been inflicted with Burn, thanks to how close Charla was to Mega Garchomp for the attack.

" _Yes!_ "

"One Burn is not going to stop us! Mega Garchomp, use Crunch, and then Hyper Beam!"

Mega Garchomp swiftly flew over to Charla and bit her hard with Crunch before throwing right down on Pangoro. The land shark then delivered the both of them a powerful Hyper Beam, creating a huge dust of smoke. As the dust cleared, Mega Garchomp, after suffering from her Burn again for a little, flew back down on the ground in front of Sycamore. Once the dust was completely cleared, both Pangoro and Charla were shown to have fainted.

"Both Pangoro and Charla are unable to battle! Serena, please send out your last Pokémon!"

Serena took out both of their Pokéballs and recalled them back in.

"The two of you did fantastic and there's nothing more I could do to thank the both of you. Take a long, deserved rest now, okay?"

Back to the crowd, Bonnie whispered to Dedenne, "What's Serena gonna do now? She now only has one Pokémon and Sycamore's Garchomp has barely taken any damage."

"Dene..."

"Don't worry you two," Grace reassured them, having to have heard them, "my daughter knows what she is doing."

Now back at the battlefield, Serena took out her last Pokéball.

"Delphox, Pangoro, and Charla all did what they could," Serena spoke to the capsule, "and now it's your turn. Please, whether or not we are destined to win or lose, just do your very best. I believe in you."

With a determined look in her eyes, Serena threw her final ball to the battlefield.

"Absol, I choose you!"

Coming out of Serena's final Pokéball was the natural disaster sensing Pokémon, Absol.

"Go Absol, go!"

"Dene denene!"

"Give it all you got!"

"Well, I haven't seen that one in a long time," commented Sycamore. "Looks strong as ever, you obviously have taken good care of it, but sorry Serena, it's time for us to end it! Garchomp, Dragon Pulse!"

"Not just yet, professor! Jump into the air, Absol!"

Before the Dragon Pulse could reach her, Absol jumped extremely high in the air, avoiding the attack.

"Slam her down with Dragon Claw!"

Mega Garchomp flew up to Absol's level and attempted to strike her to the earth with Dragon Claw, but thanks to Mega Garchomp's Burn, the land shark was damaged once again, giving Absol the chance to land back to the ground, unharmed.

"Go after Absol!"

Mega Garchomp flew back down to the battlefield and started chasing down Absol as she fired more Dragon Pulse attacks to her.

"Use the terrain, Absol!"

Just as her trainer commanded of her, Absol used the battlefield grounds that had been ruined by Pangoro's Dark Pulse. Absol used many loose pieces of the ground to kick up and use as brief shields for the Dragon Pulse and then using arched up chunks of terrain to either duck underneath or jump away a good distance from her opponent. Later, Absol jumped behind one arched up chunk to defend herself from another Dragon Pulse, creating another brief cloud of dust.

"Jump, and use Razor Wind!"

Absol jumped from the cloud and fired her white crescent-shaped energy waves from her horn to her opponent, not only severely damaging her, but also having enough force to bring her to the ground. Now normally, an attack like Razor Wind really shouldn't do a whole lot to a Mega Garchomp, but upon seeing _this_ happen, that's when Sycamore realized Serena's strategy.

"I see what you did there Serena. You used Delphox's Psychic to lower Garchomp's Special Defense, then had Pangoro's Dark Pulse change the terrain for Absol's advantage, and lastly gave Garchomp Burn with Charla's Flamethrower to give Absol the time to avoid Garchomp's attacks. Now _that's_ skill, Serena."

"Thanks! I have learned from the best, y'know!" said Serena, obviously indicating towards Ash. " _And after this, I will find the best._ "

"I see what you mean," responded Sycamore, knowing who she meant, "but it's not going to be enough! Garchomp, Hyper Beam!"

Mega Garchomp got back up and fired her Hyper Beam attack straight on Absol, inflicting heavy damage on the natural disaster Pokémon as she was blasted away.

"Don't give up Absol! Run around Garchomp with Double Team!"

Absol produced multiple clones of herself and she ran circles around Mega Garchomp.

"Dragon Pulse on all of them!"

Mega Garchomp fired her Dragon Pulse on all of the Absol around her, but much to her surprise, every single one of them were gone and she looked around, the real Absol suddenly appeared above her.

"Garchomp! Above you!"

"Psycho Cut!"

Absol's horn glew purple and she released a purple crescent energy wave down to Mega Garchomp, hitting her.

"Retaliate with Dragon Claw!"

Quickly recovering from the Psycho Cut, Mega Garchomp jumped up and brought Absol down with Dragon Claw and as Absol bounced up from the impact, Mega Garchomp struck her again, sending her skidding on her side back in front of Serena. After that though, Mega Garchomp suffered again from her Burn.

"Absol!" Serena called out in worry.

While she was incredibly damaged from the attacks she took from the Mega Evolved Pokémon, Absol knew how much her trainer needed to win this battle, so with all her strength, she got back up, only to be hit with fast Dragon Pulse attack. Even after that though, Absol was still not done yet!

"Absol," Serena called out, "I believe in you, no matter what! It's do or die now, so let's put our trust for each other to its max and win this!"

Pumped up with her trainer, Absol howled and glared determinedly at Mega Garchomp.

"Dragon Pulse!"

"Jump on that ramp!"

Absol ran towards the ramp her trainer was pointing to while avoiding some consecutive Dragon Pulses. She then jumped off the ramp over Mega Garchomp who was just about to give her another Dragon Pulse, only to be caught off guard by her Burn once again.

"Razor Wind!"

Absol launched more energy waves above Mega Garchomp, damaging her some more.

"Now use,-"

Before Serena could finish, Absol fired off her own attack, and a new one at that: Ice Beam, right dead of Mega Garchomp's head, causing very painful damage to her.

"Garchomp, no!"

"Absol, you learned Ice Beam, didn't you?" asked a surprised Serena. Her Pokémon turned her head to her and nodded with a smirk.

"You're almost there, Absol!"

"Denenenenene!"

"You can do this!"

"It's not over yet! Garchomp, Hyper Beam!"

"Dodge, and use Ice Beam!"

Mega Garchomp fired another Hyper Beam to Absol, but Absol only jumped away from the attack and fired Ice Beam once again at her opponent, and much to everyone's surprise, this was enough to finally take Mega Garchomp down.

 **(music stops playing)**

"Garchomp is unable to battle," announced Clemont as Mega Garchomp reverted back to her regular form. "This means the winner is Serena of Vaniville Town!"

 **(plays Congratulations on Entering the Hall of Fame from Pokémon (Anime))**

The crowd now went extremely wild upon seeing their Kalos Queen achieve such an incredulous victory.

Absol smirked at her victory before she started to fall down to her side from the huge amount of damage she sustained in battle, only to be quickly caught by her trainer.

"Absol, you were amazing! You, Delphox, Pangoro, and Charla! You all were just awesome!" Serena gratefully said to her Pokémon as she hugged her. In return, Absol licked her cheek.

Meanwhile, Professor Sycamore walked towards his fallen Garchomp.

"You and everyone did your very best. Thank you all so much." Sycamore said as he knelt down to his land shark and held up her head for her. Garchomp affectionately nuzzled her trainer in return before she was recalled into her Pokéball.

With Garchomp recalled, Sycamore stood back up and walked towards Serena and Absol. The two females saw this and looked up at the professor.

"Like I said before Serena, you've grown into a much stronger trainer these past eight years. Not only are your strategies impressive, but the amount of trust you have for your Pokémon is just completely impeccable. I couldn't be more proud."

"Thank you so much, professor. Though I wouldn't be like that now if it wasn't for you-know-who."

The professor chuckled and said, "Well, I wish you the best of luck on your search for I-know-who," Sycamore then knelt down to Serena and hugged her. "Please stay safe Serena, and please remember to always watch over your Pokémon's safety as well."

Serena returned the hug and said, "Of course, professor."

When they were done, Sycamore stood back up, said his goodbyes to Serena, Grace, Bonnie, and Clemont, and went his way back to his lab to heal his Pokémon. Half of the audience followed him, asking for autographs as they were overjoyed on seeing their regional professor battle. The half stayed for autographs from Serena, but she politely told all of them she will have to do them later as she's on a tight schedule right now.

With all the fans gone, Serena recalled Absol and went up to her mother.

"So mom, now that I've actually defeated Professor Sycamore in battle, do you I ha-"

Before Serena could finish, Grace brought a finger to her daughter's mouth.

"Shhh. You don't have to prove anything else, sweetie. You're ready."

Serena smiled at her mother and the two quickly hugged each other.

"Just remember to come back in one piece." said Grace as they hugged.

"Of course mom." replied Serena.

When the two were done hugging, that's when Clemont, Bonnie, and Dedenne approached them.

"Ready for what?" asked a confused Bonnie.

"Well Bon, I'm gonna be visiting Kanto for a little bit." said Serena.

"Why?"

"Jimmy told me some stuff." Serena whispered to Bonnie.

At first, Bonnie was confused by what Serena meant, but after the two looked into each others' eyes for a bit, Bonnie soon realized why Serena wanted to go to Kanto, and thanks to their sisterly relationship, she believed her.

"Good luck." Bonnie whispered back.

"Dene."

"Thanks, you two."

"Why are you going to Kanto?" asked a confused Clemont, not hearing what her sister and Bonnie were talking about.

"Just wanna visit some friends in Pallet there." lied Serena, knowing Clemont would try to stop her for her safety if he knew.

"Hm, okay."

* * *

After healing her Pokémon, Serena bought herself a plane ticket for the Kanto region and she was just about to board a plane at the Lumiose Airport, but first, she was saying her goodbyes to her mom and friends.

"Stay safe, sweetie!"

"Don't take too long, sis!"

"Denenene!"

"Say 'hi' to Oak for me!"

"No problem, you guys! See you all soon!" Serena shouted as she waved back and entered her plane. Few moments later, the plane ascended to the sky and took off.

Back on the ground, Grace watched as the plane her daughter was in disappeared in the distance.

" _Serena, my beloved daughter, you're no longer a child, but a strong, independent lady, and I couldn't be more proud. I should've known from the start you were more than capable of doing this._ "

* * *

 **(plays The Afternoon Streets from Kingdom Hearts 2)**

Inside the plane, Serena polished the Pokéballs that held Delphox, Pangoro, Absol, and Charla on her lap as she said, "I couldn't be thankful for what you all did. I love you all with all my heart." After she said that, all four capsules wobbled on their own, her Pokémon showing their appreciation for Serena from inside their balls. Serena smiled at the sight of this as she then took out Sylveon and Walrein's Pokéballs too.

"Professor Sycamore was tough, but Mt. Silver is going to be tougher, but I know it shouldn't be a problem for us. I believe in all of you guys and like I always say, we won't give up until it's over. I know we can do it."

* * *

Yays! Serena is now just getting closer and closer to Ash!

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and thanks again for helping this fanfic reach 100 followers! Like I said, this is really awesome!

Like always, please leave a review if you have anything to say, ask, bring up, suggest, whatever you want! I really much appreciate them!

Have a great day!


	8. Chapter 7 - A Pallet of Colors

Hello again!

Chapter 7 has now arrived!

Please enjoy!

* * *

 **(plays Toad Harbor (starts at 0:06) from Mario Kart 8)**

Around the eastern side of Route 2, a teenage girl was seen calmly walking through some trees and right beside her was a Wigglytuff. In the girl's hand were a few gold coins that she placed into her yellow satchel, grinning a little as she did so.

The girl and her Pokémon soon came across a more open area where the female trainer sat on a rock and fed her Wigglytuff some berries from her bag. The girl contently smiled at her Pokémon until a giant net came down from the sky and trapped the balloon Pokémon within and then flying back up to the air.

 **(music stops playing)**

The girl was surprised for a moment and she quickly stood up from the rock and looked up to see the source of the net: a giant Meowth hot air balloon which had the net attached underneath the basket. Inside the basket was a woman with long red hair, a man with short blue hair with a little clown-like Pokémon in his arms called Mime Jr., a small cat-like Pokémon called Meowth, a blue blob of a Pokémon called Wobbuffet, and a wind chime-like Pokémon floating next to the blue-hair man called Chimecho.

 **(plays Team Rocket Motto (Kanto Version) from Pokémon (Anime))**

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Mime mime!"

"Chime!"

After the villainous gang said their motto, they all laughed maniacally as their aerial mode of transport slowly floated away from the girl. Emphasis of slow, by the way.

"Thanks for leaving your cute, little Pokémon out in the open, little girl!" mocked Jessie as she and the rest of her team took a small break from their laughing fit.

"Foolish trainers like you should know that not having Pokémon in their Pokéballs just makes them easier to steal!" taunted James.

"And for our boss, a good deal!" added Meowth.

"Wobbuffet!" agreed the blue blob.

"See you later!" both Jessie, James, and Meowth teasingly shouted as their balloon continued to fly away from the female trainer.

Down below, the girl only rolled her eyes at their thievery and she stared towards her Wigglytuff and nodded. The trapped Pokémon nodded back and she proceeded to tear the net open with her bare hands, utterly shocking the thieves in the basket.

"AHH! Cute _and_ strong!" panicked Jessie, James, and Meowth in unison.

The Wigglytuff then jumped out of the net and when she was a good distance, she turned back towards the hot air balloon and fired a Tri Attack straight to the basket, causing the whole aircraft to explode, blasting the villains high up into the sky.

 **(music stops playing)**

"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!" Jessie, James, and Meowth all screamed as they, along with Wobbuffet, Mime Jr., and Chimecho, disappeared in the blue sky as a star.

Back on the ground, the girl's Wigglytuff floated back to her trainer who sat back on the rock and continued to feed her Pokémon, as if nothing ever happened.

* * *

The members of Team Rocket were blasted all the way to Route 1. Luckily for them, they landed into a tree, giving them a...semi-soft landing.

The six crooks ended up landing on the same branch and when they tried to climb out, the branch quickly snapped from their combined weight, sending them (except Wobbuffet who jumped up and grabbed hold of a higher branch in time) to the ground, face-first.

"That was embarrassingly quick!" whined Jessie.

"As they always are." moaned Meowth.

"Are you two okay?" James asked to his Mime Jr. and Chimecho, who both nodded.

The three then heard the leaves above them rustle, which was only Wobbuffet losing grip on the branch and landing right on Meowth. As per usual, the blue blob screamed his name and gave his regular saluting pose.

 **(plays Green Garden from Bomberman 64)**

"Ugh!" Jessie screamed as she stood up. "Eight years of doing the same ole' thing and for what?!"

"For squat!" Meowth answered while he got up as well after throwing Wobbuffet off him, who then obediently ran to his trainer's side.

"Not necessarily, you two," spoke James, the calmer one of the trio. "The boss still pays us every year, even when we've barely bring him a single Pokémon."

Both Jessie, Meowth, and Wobbuffet turned away with a 'humph' and crossed their arms.

"It's just better when it's fun." said Jessie. Meowth nodded in agreement.

"Still though, not every year is total failure. Remember that one time when we stole a trainer's Weavile for the boss?"

"Yeah, but den dat dumb Weavile tried to attack da boss as soon we brought it and den da boss told us to send it away, so we gave it back to its trainer."

"Oh yeah! Hmm, I always wondered why our boss didn't want that Weavile. Every stolen Pokémon we brought to him always tried to attack him, but he never rejects them."

"That Weavile did seem really angry though..." said Jessie in thought.

"Well besides that, we're still not complete losers! We still have made plenty of successful thefts in the past, plus for a reminder, we are one of the most respected members of Team Rocket due to our involvement in the disbanding of Teams Aqua, Magma, Galactic, Plasma, and Flare!"

"James is right," chimed Meowth, "we've done some pretty amazing dings and da boss knows dat!"

"And it's because of what _we_ do is what makes Team Rocket number one!" cheered Jessie.

And with that, the tenacious trio of Team Rocket had their spirits back up.

"HOORAY!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Despite dat dough," started Meowth, "dese eight years have not been da same without dat one twoip and his Pikachu."

"Oh yeah. Whatever happened to him?" questioned Jessie.

"It's so weird. If I recall, there was a newspaper headline about him two days after he disappeared and that's how we found it. Strange, it seemed so sudden."

"But we never let that get us down, boys! We just went out to find ourselves a new twerp to pester!"

"And we never did. Unlike our old twoip, whenever we get blasted off we other twoips, we always lose track of dem. And even when we do get blasted off, it just never feels da same without dat Pikachu's Thunderbolt."

"Or without any of his birds puncturing our balloon," added Jessie.

"It was always because of his spirit that we could know where he was at, but too bad not many other trainers have that. That's why we can't find a new twerp."

"Don't say that," enthused Jessie. "We're Team Rocket, so we never give up! It's been eight years and that old twerp is long gone, so we must move on and find our new twerp!"

"But where at?" asked Meowth.

The trio then spotted an airplane flying above them towards the south.

"In there." answered Jessie.

* * *

 **(plays Feel Refreshed from Star Ocean: The Second Story)**

Inside the airplane, Serena, with her Pokéballs still on her lap, had woken up from her slumber when the morning sun's light shined through the windows. The flight from Kalos to Kanto had taken up the entire night. Serena smiled at the beautiful star in the sky before yawning and stretching her arms and limbs.

"Ah. Morning you guys." Serena said to her Pokéballs, who all wobbled in response.

Serena then took her attention back to the window and looked down below to see the town where she first met Ash: Pallet Town. Whenever she visited this calm town, it always brought back precious memories to her.

" _We're finally here._ "

*DING-DONG-DING-DONG*

Everyone in the plane, awake or not, heard the sound from the plane's monitors, indicating the pilot was about to speak.

"Good morning passengers. We are approximately three minutes away from the Kanto Airport. Remember to make sure you have all your stuff with you before you leave. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your flight."

The honey-blonde hair girl happily sighed to herself and relaxed on her seat.

"Three minutes, huh? Eh, I guess that would be good enough for a little more sleep."

* * *

 **(plays Welcome to Station Square from Sonic Adventure)**

Three minutes later, the plane reached the airport and landed safely on the runway. When the airstairs came, the passengers all exited from the aircraft as Team Rocket spied on them from inside a bush.

"So Jess, who do you think will be our potential new twerp." asked James.

"Hmm, let's see," Jessie then started to inspect every passenger she saw. "Too young. Too old. Too weird-looking. Too mild-mannered. Too smart. Too fashionable. Too dumb. Too mustache-y. Too slow. Too social. Too easygoing. Too clumsy. Too boney. Too much into video games. Too handsome. Too cold. Too twerpette-wait." Jessie paused for a bit, quickly recognizing a certain girl in a pink fedora stepping down the airstairs.

"Isn't that the twerpette from Kalos?" Jessie asked her teammates as she pointed to the girl in question.

James and Meowth faced where Jessie's finger was indicating to, also seeing the Kalos-hailed trainer.

"It is!" exclaimed James. "Hm, she sure has changed."

"Oh, I know. Same tacky clothing." chirped Jessie.

"I wonder what she's here for." Meowth then saw Jessie in thought, as evidenced by her eyes focused solely on Serena and her right thumb and index finger underneath her chin. "What'ya dinkin' about, Jessie?"

"Hmmmm... Guys, I think I found our new twerp." chimed Jessie.

"Really?" asked both James and Meowth.

"Yeah. I mean, it kinda fits. Going by memory, she always took after the twerp a lot, like his annoying, childish spirit, or his lovey-dovey care for his Pokémon. She did have a crush on him after all."

"Didn't she dress up as him once?" asked James.

"Yeah. Ah, love makes you do the craziest things. Back on topic though, she's essentially a female version of our old twerp, so we'll be going back to familiar grounds, putting the fun back to our job!"

"Plus, she is Kalos Queen, so she must have a lot of pretty and powerful Pokémon on her!" said Meowth.

 **(music stops playing)**

Unfortunately, that was suppose to be a secret from Jessie. She never did hear about Serena's accomplishment two years while James, Meowth, and even Wobbuffet did via newspapers and internet and they always hid that from Jessie, knowing she would just get mad with furious jealousy. Too bad it's all revealed now.

 **(plays Final Bowser Battle from Super Mario Galaxy 2)**

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Jessie screamed to her teammates as all five of them cowered in utter fear. "That tiny, little, blonde, fedora-wearing, twerp-crushing, sparkle-showing, fox-raising, 'ta-da'-saying, puff-cooking, Eevee-dancing, clothes-shopping, panda-shading, key-twirling, hair-cutting, formerly Rhyhorn-racing, wand-waving, macaron-eating, trivia-guessing, Kalos-hailing, cheer-leading, noise-making, dress-spinning, panic-screaming, heel-running, perfume-smelling, berry-picking, victory-jumping, passion-flaring, people-caring twerpette actually won Kalos Queen?!"

"N-n-no?"

"TELL ME THE TRUTH!" Jessie screamed as her face become one of a demon's.

"AHHHHH!" the five screamed at the monster in front of them.

"It was two years ago!" the scared James revealed.

"She beated Aria!" the equally scared Meowth also revealed.

"We heard it on a newspaper!"

"And we saw her performance on dee internet!"

"We didn't want to tell you because-"

"Dis would happen!"

"PLEASE DON'T HURT US!" the two of them begged.

"WOBBUFFET!" the blue blob screamed, alsp begging for his life.

Jessie just growled ferociously to them and she took out a paper fan to whack them all in the forehead, leaving some painful-looking lumps.

"Well, she's about to see some _true_ royalty when she comes across the Kanto Queen!" Jessie growled as she stared back to Serena with her right fist clenched.

"But Jessie, you know there aren't any Pokémon Showcases here at Kanto." stated James only to receive a smack in the face from Jessie's hairdo.

"You know what I meant!" Jessie barked at him.

"Y'know Jess, if you're gonna get _dis_ jealous of the twoipette, maybe we should just find another target." Meowth pointed out before Jessie kicked him in the face.

"NO! It's decided, our new twerp will be the Kalos twerpette, and that's final!"

Turning away from her teammates for a bit, Jessie saw Serena leaving the airport and entering the grassy path that led to Pallet Town.

"Quick, she's getting away!" Jessie panickedly screamed.

She was about to take off, but James and Meowth were currently unconscious from Jessie's attacks.

"Stop lying around, you two! We got a twerp to steal from!"

Jessie grabbed the both of them effortlessly and sneakily made her way to the route as Wobbuffet, Mime Jr., and Chimecho followed. The thieves were able to make it to the route without being seen by anyone, not even the on-guard Officer Jenny's, and now that they were on Serena's tail, they quickly started to get ahead, planning for a sneak attack.

* * *

 **(plays March Ahead from Paper Mario)**

Serena merrily walked on the dirt path of the route, unaware of Team Rocket who were hiding in some bushes ahead of her. They team of crooks quietly laughed as Serena got more and more closer to them, hoping for a certain infamous trap of theirs' to work.

Just as Serena was about three feet close to where Team Rocket was, she felt one of her Pokéballs wobble on its own on her belt, with Absol coming out of it in front of her, having to have sensed a nearby threat to her beloved trainer. The disaster Pokémon warily looked around the area.

 **(music stops playing)**

"Sol..."

"Hey Absol, is there something wrong? Do you detect any danger closeby?"

The canine nodded and she finally detected the nearby threat. She directed herself to the path in front of her and fired a Razor Wind onto the ground, revealing it to be a pitfall trap.

"What the-?"

Serena's Absol then fired another Razor Wind onto the bushes that were close to the trap, causing the hidden villains to jump out screaming, and land behind the giant hole on the path.

Thanks to their outfits, Serena instantly recognized the villains in front of her.

"Team Rocket?"

When the said team were done rubbing their bottoms from the fall, they instantly jumped back to their feet to start off their usual motto.

 **(plays Team Rocket Motto (Kanto Version) from Pokémon (Anime))**

"Prepare for trouble. Long time, no see!"

"And make it double and say 'goodbye' to victory!"

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Mime mime!"

"Chime!"

 **(music stops playing)**

Once the motto was over, Team Rocket noticed that Serena was no longer in front of them. Instead, turning back, they saw the girl and her Absol had already passed them and were casually continuing on the dirt path, causing the whole gang to plummet on the ground.

 **(plays Bonetrousle from Undertale)**

"Well _someone_ has gotten more rude over the years!" Jessie screamed at Serena with her fists in the air.

"At the very least, you could've just departed _after_ we finished our motto instead of _during_ it! Sheesh!" James shouted as he got up with his Mime Jr. and Chimecho.

"And when twoips are rude, dey go kapeesh!" finished Meowth as he threateningly pointed his claws towards Serena and Absol.

"WOB-buffet!"

Instead of stopping to retort back, Serena continued to walk farther away from Team Rocket.

"Just ignore them Absol."

"Sol."

Team Rocket was now steaming with rage. How this teenage twerp treat them like a bunch jokes? Okay, granted they still kinda are, but they've arguably improved during their eight years away from her and now it's time to show her that!

"Listen twerpette, if you're just gonna pass us by, you should at least challenge us to a battle like normal trainers do!" Jessie said as she and James both took out a Pokéball. "Unless of course you're too scared!"

"I'm not scared and honestly, you guys would be the very last thing in the world I would be scared of. I just don't have the time for your foolishness right now."

"That's it, you asked for it." Jessie growled. She then threw her Pokéball out for battle. "Seviper, show that twerpette we mean business!"

"Malamar, say 'hi' to our old friend!" James threw his Pokéball as well.

From the two balls came a long dark snake with red fangs and a white and purple squid and the both of them were ready to take on the girl.

Serena only sighed and took out a Pokéball herself. "Let's get this over fast. Delphox, Mystical Fire."

The Pokéball was thrown high above Serena and out came the fire-psychic fox, who instantly recognized the villains and used a big Mystical Fire attack on them, causing them to scream and get covered in burn marks.

"Ice Beam."

Absol fired her Ice Beam towards Team Rocket, encasing them in a huge block of ice.

"Pangoro, use Stone Edge." Serena unenthusiastically called out as she released Pangoro from his ball. He also instantly remembered Team Rocket and he sent a huge pillar of stone underneath the ice they were trapped in to send them blasting off.

"I feel cold." James weakly murmured in the giant ice cube he, his teammates, and Pokémon were trapped in.

"Don't worry, Jessie's temper will heat dings up soon." assured Meowth.

"Excuse me, what did you say?!" Jessie furiously asked, and lo-and-behold, as soon she got angry again, the ice started to slowly melt, causing her to look shocked and embarrassed as James, Meowth, Wobbuffet, Mime Jr., Chimecho, Seviper, and Malamar smiled with glee.

"Ah, I can feel the warmness coming back already!" James cheerfully chirped.

"Who needs da sun when we got Jessie?"

"Wob-bu-ffett!"

"Oh, shut up!"

As the ice started to melt a little faster, Team Rocket, as per usual, disappeared in the high blue sky as a star.

"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"

 **(music stops playing)**

Serena rolled her eyes as she watched the Pokémon thieves fly higher and higher in the sky. She thanked her three Pokémon for making quick work of them and recalled them all back to their balls before continuing her way down to Pallet Town.

* * *

 **(plays Pallet Town from Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver)**

Soon enough, Serena had made it to the hilled paths that provided a beautiful full view of the peaceful town of Pallet, which included the endless amount of healthy garden and small houses with Professor Oak's famous Pokémon Laboratory on top of a high hill at the northwest corner of the town.

Looking around for a bit, Serena spotted Delia Ketchum's house in the far-off distance which caused her face to frown a bit. Even though Delia was able to move on a bit during these eight years, the poor woman was never truly the same again. At times, she's her regular-cheery self, though at many other times, it can be visually clear that she's trying to hold back tears, like whenever she spends time with her friends who are also mothers. Serena wanted to see her again, but she knew that if she were to visit, the reason why she's at Kanto would've inevitably slipped out eventually in the household and despite that, she didn't want to lie to her either. Delia has already suffered enough, and she doesn't need close friends of her to be dishonest to her. Besides, the Ketchum household wasn't the place she wanted to go to right now. Instead, it was Professor Oak's Lab.

* * *

 **(plays Prof. Oak's Lab from Pokémon Snap)**

Inside the Pokémon lab of Pallet Town, Professor Oak was sitting at a desk, reading a book and drinking a cup of tea. Behind him, Rotom was mischievously transporting himself through the various machines behind his trainer, planning to give him his regular Thunderbolt attack. After reaching a computer close to the desk, Rotom quietly exited the device, floated close to the floor, and then rose behind Oak's chair, keeping himself from laughing of the future attack.

"Don't even try it, Rotom." said the knowingly professor, utterly surprising the ghostly spark who then plummeted to the floor.

"My longtime friend, you've been doing the same old trick for years and years now, it's really no surprise that I am now able to know when you're going do it and _where_ you're going to do it."

The ghostly spark flew back up with a pouty expression before taking off for somewhere else to have fun. His trainer watched his Pokémon float away before sighing a bit.

"But you are one of the few things that keeps this lab lively." Oak silently said to himself.

He then turned back to his desk to look out the window in front of it which had a good view of the lab's corral. Even though the corral still contained Pokémon from a variety of Kanto trainers, old or new, it was always Ash's Pokémon that kept the whole place energized. Whether it was Oshawott and Pignite fighting over food, Staraptor and Swellow having air races or sometimes battles, Bulbasaur doing his best to resolve any fight only to come out with scratches and bruises, or the horde of Tauros stampeding around, destroying fences in the process. Granted, the horde was still there, it was just that they stampeded a lot less since their leader went away with Ash. They had a new one, but he wasn't much of a warrior as the last one, and that's why the horde was much less active as they used to be.

Inside the lab was no different. Without Muk, Professor Oak was no longer crushed in a massive slimy hug around every corner and without Kingler, Oak had nobody to drink tea or write poetry with. Plus, as Tracey grew older, it became a habit for him to explore other regions to find more Pokémon to sketch. He still works for Oak, he's just not there a lot anymore, but besides that, he has brought Oak so many amazing Pokémon sketches, like one of Uxie when the talented sketchist stopped by Lake Acuity at Sinnoh. While Oak missed having Tracey around, he was incredibly proud of how much the young man has grown throughout the years, firmly believing that he will achieve a mastery level in sketching in the close future, just as he did in his youth.

With this in mind, Oak remembered that Tracey was suppose to send him an email around this time while he was at Hoenn right now. The professor got off his chair and moved it in front of the nearby computer Rotom was in and he turned on the device to check his email, and much to his surprise, he actually had two emails: one from Tracey as expected, and another from Mr. Goodshow.

Goodshow's looked interesting, but Tracey was the first priority at the moment. Tracey's email read that he was currently at Mossdeep City and he was trying to make a good sketch of Deoxys, whom he swore he saw flying high in the night sky of the city. The email also contained a picture of Tracey in front of the Mossdeep Space Center along with his elderly Scyther, and in Tracey's hands was a well-done sketch of the space center. Oak smiled fondly at the email and he replied back, telling the sketchist to do his best on the Deoxys sketch and wishes him the best of luck for throughout the rest of Hoenn.

Now done with his assistant's email, Professor Oak closed it and opened up Goodshow's. A pleasant surprise it was, as the email was Goodshow asking the professor if he would like to be one of the many battle announcers for the Ultimate Champion Tournament. Since the tournament would be in five days and three weeks and Tracey said he'll be back before that time and that he could watch over the lab in his absence, Oak replied 'yes' to the email. The ole' professor was really looking forward to the quadrennial Pokémon tournament. He had been an announcer before for the one eight years and he was just a regular for the one four years ago, and every time, he was always excited to see a variety of trainers from the many different parts of the world, along with their strong and well-trained Pokémon. And of course, whenever he had the chance, he would always do a close study of every unique Pokémon he saw, only to be attacked not too long later.

While Oak was excited, there was this one thought in head.

" _If only Ash was still around. He would have a real blast at this tournament._ "

Oak closed Goodshow's email and then looked out the window up to the clear blue sky, hoping that Ash and his Pokémon are doing well at Mt. Silver. One fear that always lingered in his mind was that Ash and his Pokémon might've died over at the mountain range. After all, Oak never heard from them since the day they ran away and there was no way of contacting them either, but he was always able to rid away that fearful thought for the time by remembering just how strong Ash and his Pokémon were, and knowing that Ash is a trainer who would never stop training his Pokémon, then would most definitely be a lot stronger at this point to handle anything Mt. Silver could throw at them. And he didn't need visual proof for that. He had faith.

Before Oak could think of the disappeared trainer for any longer, he heard the doorbell rang.

"I'll be right there!"

Oak got off his seat and headed for the main doors of the lab, and much to his horror, Rotom was right next to the doors, ready to shock whoever rang the doorbell through the door knob.

"Rotom, don't you dare-" Oak yelled as he ran to Rotom, only to be cut off by surprise when his Pokémon turned around and used Thunderbolt on _him_. Apparently, Rotom was just faking Oak out to land a surprise attack.

"You little demon..." Oak weakly muttered on the floor with an electrified afro. Rotom only laughed at him per usual.

The doorbell rang again and the professor got back up and opened the doors.

 **(plays Professor Oak's Laboratory from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen)**

"Hello Professor Oak! Nice to see you again!" greeted Serena.

"Ah, the Queen of Kalos herself, Serena!" Oak happily greeted back. "How have you been?"

"Oh please, you don't have to address me that," said Serena, referring to her famous title. "And I've been fine! How about you? I can see Rotom is still its usual self."

"Heheh, yeah, the two of us have been doing well too." Oak said with a sweatdrop as his afro sparked with the small remaining electricity. The professor then quickly took out a hairbrush to comb his hair back to normal.

Rotom popped up behind the professor to greet the girl with its regular mischievous laughter.

"Great to see you too, Rotom!"

"I have to admit Serena, it's quite the surprise to you in such a random time. What business could you have here at Kanto?"

"Well Professor Oak, I'm here because of something very personal and meaningful to me, but would it be okay if we were to talk inside? I don't want to risk anyone hearing me."

"Most certainly Serena. Come right on in!"

 **(plays Dragon Village from Spyro: A Hero's Tail)**

Professor Oak and Rotom led Serena into the lobby/living room of the lab where the two humans sat on the two couches facing each other. On the coffee table between the couches was a tea set and Oak made use of it by pouring tea in two cups. The professor offered Serena a cup and she happily accepted it.

"So Serena, what did you want to talk about? Please don't be afraid to tell me anything."

"Well professor, few days ago, I met this trainer from Johto named 'Jimmy'. I didn't get to know his last name, but he had this spiky hairstyle, he had a Typhlosion, a Pichu, and he told me he had a Suicune, and he said he won the Silver Conference when he was 10. Does that sound familiar to you?"

"As a matter of fact, it does. He also had a Togekiss, Politoed, and a Sudowoodo and he's one of Professor Elm's most favorite trainers." Oak stated, remembering that young Johto-hailed trainer. "I may be old, but my memory is still intact."

"That's great. Alright, so Jimmy told me that a couple years back, he traveled up Mt. Silver to do some research for Professor Elm."

"Ah, I remember that as well. I believe it was Elm himself who gave Jimmy the authorization to go up there. But as I heard, Jimmy almost lost his life over there after he was chased by a Steelix off a cliff and into a river and since then, Elm told me he swore he'll never go back."

"Actually professor, the part on how he got back down was all made up," Serena boldly stated. "He told me so himself."

This statement surprised Professor Oak.

"Are you sure about this, Serena?"

"One-hundred percent. In reality, he made it to the top... and he saw Ash."

 **(plays Theme of Samus Aran, Space Warrior from Super Smash Bros. Brawl)**

Oak was now more astounded hearing this. Has someone actually made it to the highest point of Mt. Silver and saw Ash? He has known many trainers who traveled to Mt. Silver, and he was even the one who gave some of them the legal permission to do so, but he never honestly expected anyone to make it to the top. Why? To him, no trainer seemed to have the same true love and willpower Ash had whenever they were about to travel to the mountain range. But now remembering Jimmy, Oak began to realize the obvious reasons on how the trainer of New Bark Town was able to reach the top, considering how similar his spirit was to Ash's.

"And now professor, I want to go up Mt. Silver and find Ash myself. But first, if it isn't too much to ask, could you give me the authorization for access there?"

Professor Oak closed his eyes, laid his right index finger under his chin, stood up from the couch, and turned around to think. Serena saw this and understood what he was doing, patiently waiting for his decision.

Right now, there were so many things Oak had to decide on before the ultimate final decision of giving Serena permission. First up, if he should tell Serena that he always knew Ash was up there. Oak decided not to as she would've most likely gotten angry at him for hiding such a thing for all these years. The young girl was a friend to Oak, and if there's one thing Oak would never do, it would be jeopardizing his friendships. With that out of the way, Oak then thought about the consequences of Ash returning down from the mountain range. He remembered Ash telling him the threats he received from the lady when he killed her two friends, and that she threatened she would kill all who Ash cherished if he would to return. Oak didn't want Ash under that pressure, but there's also the fact that he is basically eternally trapped in an icy cold mountain range, and he just couldn't leave that fate on him. Even though Oak knows nothing of the lady or the two mercenaries that attacked Ash, he deeply knew that he does not deserve to be trapped and have his dreams abandoned because of that sudden discriminative ambush. Ash deserves to have his freedom again, and besides, it's been eight years, so he and his Pokémon should be a lot more stronger to take on anyone they fight against. After all, Ash has done it before.

The next and final thing to think about was to give Serena the permission to go or not. Now this would take up the most thinking. Again, Serena is a friend to Oak, and if he were to allow her to go, would that just put her on the risk of dying?

"Hmm..."

Oak turned back around and opened his eyes to face Serena. He looked into her eyes. They were full of determination.

"Serena, what Pokémon do you have with you right now?" asked Oak.

"Delphox, Pangoro, Sylveon, Absol, Walrein, and Charla, my Charizard."

Now that sounded like a pretty good team for exploring Mt. Silver. Two fire-types, a fighting-type with super strength, a durable and girthy water and ice-type for traversing through the waterfalls and snow, a fairy-type that could keep wild Pokémon at bay with her variety of Special Attacks, and a Pokémon that could sense incoming disasters. Just then, Oak noticed three things glimmering in Serena's jacket pocket.

"Serena, what do you have in your right jacket pocket?"

"What do you mean?" asked a confused Serena. It couldn't be her phone or wallet, they were in her left pocket.

Curious, Serena dug her hand into her right pocket and she felt two small round objects and one slightly bigger object. Grabbing them, Serena took out her hand and opened it up, revealing what was inside.

"A Key Stone, a Mega Ring, and an Absolite?! Where did you get those?"

"I don't know." replied Serena, who was now really confused of finding such things in her pocket.

That's when Serena realized how she obtained them.

"Professor Sycamore!" exclaimed the girl, surprising Oak.

"Sycamore?"

"Yes! Yesterday, when I was proving to my mom on how strong I am, I challenged Professor Sycamore in a four-on-four double battle. After I won, he hugged me, and I guess he slipped these three in my pocket during that."

What Serena said astounded Oak. Not really did she defeat Professor Sycamore in a battle, but she was also deemed worthy of Mega Evolution by him too, which adds to her team a Pokémon capable of Mega Evolving.

"When you battled Sycamore, what Pokémon did he use?"

"Blastoise, Charizard, Venusaur, and his Mega Garchomp."

...

"Serena, you are very well close of me granting you permission to access Mt. Silver, but you before I can do that, you must answer these three questions I have for you."

"Go for it."

"Question number one: If you were ever attacked by thugs, poachers, or grunts and you weren't able to use any of your Pokémon, what would you do?"

"I wouldn't run away. Instead, I would stand my grounds and fight back."

"How so?"

"Well, when I was under Palermo's training, she had taught me a variety of physical combat moves in case I needed them. Like she said, a Kalos Queen cannot just be a pretty performer, but a stronger fighter as well, and that in the past, the real queens of Kalos always physically fought for their family and people when they needed them. Alsoooo, I have this."

Serena reached into her backpack and brought out a light, but long steel sword.

"This sword is said to be the same sword the past queens of Kalos had used in war. Funny thing was that back then, women weren't allowed to fight in wars, though the queens always disguised themselves as men and they ended up as one of the top fighters. Heheh, all without the kings even knowing. Of course, I would _never_ use this on a Pokémon, or heck, even a fellow human, but in case something really, I mean _really_ , bad were to happen, I would have this, and Palermo had taught all the moves and techniques the queens themselves used too."

"That's really interesting. Moving on to question two: Let's say you encountered a rare and shiny Pokémon in your way and you chase after it to catch it. Along the way though, you also spot another Pokémon hanging on for its dear life and you're the only one who could save it. Would you continue after the shiny Pokémon or would you fall back and save the Pokémon in danger, knowing that the shiny one would soon get away?"

"For that," Serena started as she putted her sword back in her backpack, "I would save the one that's in danger. It's self-explanatory really, shinies are cool, but lives mean more. A lot more."

"Good answer. Now, for the last question, question number three: Both you and your Pokémon are extremely famished and you have a few berries left. Would you use them to feed yourself or your Pokémon?"

"The answer is obvious: my Pokémon. I love them all with all my heart and I would never dare risk their lives just for my search. I mean, Pokémon aren't quest tools, they're friends, family, and what's something you should never do to your friends and family? Sacrifice them for your own sake."

Hearing all of Serena's answers, Professor Oak smiled at her and he took out a pen and a piece of paper. After writing on it, he gave it to Serena.

"Here you go. It's for the guards at the Mt. Silver gates."

Serena read the paper and it said 'I, Professor Oak of Pallet Town, the renowned Pokémon Professor of the Kanto region, grant Serena of Kalos the permission to access Mt. Silver.' ending off my the professor's signature. Serena smiled gratefully at Professor Oak before running around the coffee table to hug him.

"Thank you so much."

"Of course Serena. But before you, how about you pack up a bit? It's gonna be rough journey and you'll need all the supplies you can get."

Serena nodded in agreement and she followed the professor and his Rotom to a room full of medicines, fresh contained berries, and other sorts of items. She stocked up on Full Restores, Full Heals, Max Revives, Max Repels, and A TON of berries. While she did that, Professor Oak asked for her Kalos Pokédex so that he could upgrade it to allow her to have more than six Pokémon on her team. This is a truly unique upgrade as usual only those who mostly fight in wars rather than battles with other trainers are allowed to have this type of upgrade. He, in fact, gave this upgrade to Ash's before he left, though also deleting his personal data so that no one could use it to track him down. Oak gave her the upgrade in case she would stumble upon a Pokémon interested in joining her as she explored Mt. Silver. Now with that upgrade, Serena stocked up on some Pokéballs and then she was done.

* * *

 **(plays The Matter's Settled from Pokémon (Anime))**

Outside the lab, Serena was inserting a metallic ring containing the Absolite on Absol's right front leg. The Pokémon was surprised to see the Mega Stone at first before Serena explained to her how they were able to obtain it. Serena's Key Stone was held in the Mega Ring that was now on her left wrist.

"Do you feel comfortable, Absol?"

The disaster Pokémon nodded up to her trainer and she was recalled in her ball.

"So Serena, you think you're finally ready?"

"You bet I am!" Serena confidently replied.

"That's great. Just remember to always be careful, Mt. Silver is no cakewalk."

"I'm aware professor, and I know I can do it."

"Very well. Best of luck, Serena!"

"Thank you so much, professor! You've done a lot for me!"

With that said, Serena took off away from the lab to leave Pallet Town as she waved 'goodbye' to Oak and Rotom, with her next destination being the gates of Mt. Silver, though not before stopping by Viridian City of course.

The professor and Rotom waved back at Serena and when she was finally out of sight, the two went back into the lab.

Back inside, Rotom took off to goof around somewhere else as his trainer made his way to the study room.

Professor Oak went up to a bookshelf to take out an old and dusted sketchbook where he flipped to a particular page that had a sketch of a Pikachu and a Celebi sleeping next to each other. Oak smiled fondly at the sketch and he walked up to the windows on the opposite side of the shelves to look at the still blue skies above.

* * *

Over at Route 1, Team Rocket was lying down, dazed out, from their recent encounter with Serena. They handed landed behind some bushes behind the main path of the route. Thankfully, since they were trapped in ice when they blasted off, they didn't fly too far this time, plus Jessie's temper was able to melt the rest of the ice in time before they landed.

"My back hurts." James moaned.

"My hair hurts." Jessie moaned.

"My charm hurts." Meowth moaned.

"Wob-buffet." Wobbuffet moaned.

"Y'know guys, maybe the Kalos twerpette shouldn't be our new twerp." James suggested.

"Yeah, how bout de water lover twoipette back at Cerulean?"

Before Jessie could say anything, the team spotted Serena running past them, and this caused Jessie to jump back up instantly.

"No way! That little queen brat is our new official twerp and that's final!"

"But Jessie-"

Jessie only ignored her teammates as she forcefully grabbed James, Meowth, Wobbuffet, Mime Jr., Chimecho, Seviper, and Malamar to carry them over her head like a ball. She then took off after Serena, who was now plenty of feet away from them, though like that would make Jessie give up.

* * *

And that was Chapter 7! Well, time to work on some homework... nahh!

I'm sorry to anyone who wants to see more action of Ash and his Pokémon, but I absolutely promise there's gonna be a lot, and I mean A LOT, from them in later chapters.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review if you feel like it. Or heck, PM if you want to!

Have a great day!


	9. Chapter 8 - Starting from the Bottom

Hello again! Here is Chapter 8! Hope you all enjoy

* * *

 **(plays Viridian City from Pokémon (Anime))**

Team Rocket had followed Serena all the way through Route 1 without her even knowing. Out of everyone on the team, Jessie was the one who put in the most energy, stealthly jumping from bush to bush behind Serena's tail as James, Meowth, and Wobbuffet panted behind her.

Soon enough, the criminals stopped themselves in a bush near the entrance of Viridian City as they spied their female target walking into the town.

Serena generally had no business with Viridian City so she was just about to head west of the town to reach the gates of Mt. Silver, until she heard her phone buzz in her jacket pocket. Taking the device out, Serena saw a text from mom that read:

'When you get the chance, go to the nearest Pokémon Center and contact Professor Sycamore. He's got a surprise for you.'

The Kalos-haled girl put her phone back into her pocket and walked towards the Viridian City Pokémon Center, just as her mom told her to do via text.

Still keeping their eyes on Serena, Team Rocket figured out where she was heading.

"She's goin' do da Pokémon Center!" whispered Meowth to his teammates.

"That place brings back so many memories." reminisced James, recalling the very first day they met Ash, only to be punched over the head by Jessie's fist, snapping him out of memory lane.

"Focus, this is our chance!"

"Ouch. Sorry." James said as he rubbed the top of his head.

"Wob-buffet!"

"So, what's da plan, Jess?"

"We disguise ourselves and enter the center, put everyone inside to sleep with Malamar, and once everyone's in dream land, we grab all the Pokéballs from the twerpette as we can. And if everyone is still sleeping and the cops haven't arrived yet, then we can also grab any other trainer's Pokéballs and the ones the nurse is keeping as well. It's easy as 1, 2, 3. Any objections?"

"Hm. Sounds good."

"I like it!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Great! Alright Meowth, you got the disguises ready?"

"Do I?" Meowth cheerfully chimed as he took out four different sized trench coats that came with fedora hats and shades, seemingly out of nowhere.

The disguises he had in mind though were quickly swatted away by Jessie.

"We're not using those!"

"Huh? Why not?" asked Meowth.

"Isn't it obvious?! We'll be too, um, obvious! A couple of overly buttoned coats and detective hats won't be enough to hide our true selves!"

"They always worked before." James pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, but besides what I just said, it's this place we have to be the most careful at. Remember the _last_ time we were at the Viridian City Pokémon Center?"

James and Meowth were confused at first. After a moment of thinking, they finally figured out what Jessie meant.

"Oh yeah, th/dings went boom because of us." the two said in unison, remembering that the Pokémon Center blew up because of them, and there's no way they would be let off hook easy for that.

"Right, and we'll be going boom if our true identities get revealed around here. That's why I have much better disguises in mind!"

Jessie then pulled out four shopping bags (once again, out of nowhere) and she tossed one each to her three teammates. In her bag was a black top, pink jacket, blue jeans with matching blue sandals, red wristband, a fluffy green scarf, an orange hair tie, and a white hat.

James's bag contained an orange t-shirt, green jacket, blue shorts, white socks and sneakers, and a green cap.

Inside Meowth's bag was a grey hoodie, black sweatshorts, red and white sneakers, and a yellow hat.

And Wobbuffet's bag had a short grey wig, swirly-eyed glasses, a purple bathrobe, and a walking cane.

"I really don't think these are any less revealing than those trench coats." stated James.

"Sure they are! Now quit stalling, we got a twerpette to follow."

Jessie then went off to some more farther bushes so that her male teammates won't see her change.

"She probably dinks dese clothes make her look younger." Meowth stated to James as they and Wobbuffet started to change themselves.

* * *

 **(plays Pokémon Center from Pokémon (Anime))**

After walking down a long street and up a small set of stairs, Serena had made it to the Viridian City Pokémon Center.

Entering the large facility, the honey-blonde girl was instantly greeted by the center's Nurse Joy at her front desk.

"Hello and welcome to the Pokémon Center! Would you like us to heal your Pokémon?"

"No thank you," Serena politely declined, "I'm here to use one of your video phones if you don't mind."

"Not at all! Please, take as much time as you want!"

Serena bowed and said, "Thank you very much!"

She went up to one of the green video phones over at the eastern area of the center and called for Professor Sycamore just as her mom told her via text message. Within a couple of seconds, the professor of Kalos appeared on the video phone screen.

"Hey professor, my mom told me you had some sort of surprise for me. Is that true?"

"Indeed it is!" Sycamore chirped before putting up a Pokéball in his right hand in view. The capsule also had a small note attached to it, but Serena wasn't able to read it at the moment.

"In here is a very special Pokémon that both me and your mom feel would be very helpful for your adventures in Mt. Silver."

"Really now." chimed an intrigued Serena.

"Yep! Of course though, in order for me to transfer this one over to you, you must be transfer a Pokémon currently in your team to me in order to have space."

Serena giggled and said, "There's actually no need for that, professor."

Meanwhile, as Serena explained to Sycamore the Pokédex modifications she obtained from Professor Oak, Team Rocket, in their new disguises, entered the Pokémon Center.

"Hello and welcome to the Pokémon Center!" the Nurse Joy cheerfully greeted once again.

"Hi," Jessie quickly greeted back, "we're not here to heal our Pokémon. Instead," Jessie then grabbed Wobbuffet and placed him in front of her, "our poor, dear ole' grandfather is very tired and exhausted right now. Y'see, we've been traveling for a quite long time and right now, we just need to sit back and relax, so mind if we just chill out here for a while?"

"Of course! Take as much time as you need!"

"Th/danks." Jessie, James, and Meowth said in unison.

The crooks then quickly ran to the long green seats that were nearby the video phones. At their location, they were able to see Serena.

"It's da twoipette." Meowth whispered to his teammates.

"And she appears to be calling someone." added James.

"Hmm, this seems interesting. Look casual and keep a good ear." ordered Jessie.

"Right."

Team Rocket slightly leaned closer to Serena's direction, giving them a good enough hearing of the girl's conversation with Professor Sycamore.

"I must say Serena," started Sycamore, "that was very kind of Professor Oak to give you such an honorable upgrade to your Pokédex. After all, for all you've done as a trainer over these years, you really do deserve it."

"Aw, thanks professor!"

"You're welcome. Well, with that all said, you ready to have a _seventh_ member on your Pokémon team for the first time?"

"Absolutely!"

"Alright, here it goes! I am transferring the Pokéball over to you now."

Professor Sycamore transported the note-attached Pokéball to the Viridian Pokémon Center. The capsule appeared on the PC next to the video phone Serena was using and she quickly took it out and showed it to the screen. During all of this, Team Rocket watched with attentive eyes, curious of what could be inside the Pokéball.

"I got it. Thanks professor!"

"It's no problem at all. I surely hope the Pokémon inside would be of great assistance for Mt. Silver."

"Huh?!" Team Rocket quietly gasped. The treacherous Mt. Silver? Why would their new target go over there?! Not even they are _that_ crazy!

"What Pokémon is it?" asked Serena.

Sycamore chuckled and replied, "That's for you to find out. It is a surprise after all. Well, I have to go now, it's lunchtime for the Pokémon here at the lab, but before I go, please hear this one last thing I have to say to you first."

"Hm?"

"Serena, please, stay safe."

After a nod, Serena replied, "Thanks. I will."

Sycamore nodded back and turned off his screen, ending their virtual conversation.

Serena stared at the Pokéball in hand for a few minutes and after briefly forgetting about the note, she clicked the capsule's button, opening it up and releasing a bluish-white light. When the light died down, it revealed a gray, quadrupedal, singular-horned Pokémon that instantly ran up to Serena and tackled her down, licking her repeatedly. During the whole licking process, Serena immediately recognized the Pokémon.

"A Rhyhorn?"

The rock rhino stopped showing its affection and joyfully nodded to the girl. After only a small number of seconds, Serena realized that this wasn't any normal Rhyhorn, but the one from her house.

"No, _mom's_ Rhyhorn!" Serena got to her knees and started to pet the family Pokémon.

"Oh my gosh, what are you doing here?"

Rhyhorn went to the Pokéball he came out from (which was dropped on the ground after he tackled Serena), bit off the note with his mouth, and showed it to Serena, who took then it from the Pokémon. She then began to read the note.

'Dear my sweet daughter,

When I arrived home alone after your battle with Professor Sycamore, Rhyhorn was extremely worried for you. Even after I told him where you were at, he still couldn't keep his mind off you! So I thought about this: Mt. Silver has a lot of rough terrain, and what Pokémon can easily traverse through any type of terrain? No one else than this ole' champ right here! Plus he's fast and got plenty of powerful attacks on him. I'm sure he'll be of great help! I love you!

-your ever-so supportive mother, Grace'

Serena smiled at the note and stood back up. She then smiled down to her Rhyhorn and said, "So Rhyhorn, you think you're up for it?"

The rocky rhinoceros stood a confident stance and roughly grunted.

"I thought so."

She bent down again to pet Rhyhorn, grab his Pokéball, and insert it into her backpack, keeping the Pokémon out, and then ran towards the center's front desk. She ran by Team Rocket, who quickly took on casual poses to not look suspicious, though they still kept their eyes on her. At the front desk, Serena thanked Nurse Joy for letting her use the video phones and PC and she and Rhyhorn exited the healing facility.

With Serena gone, Team Rocket began to converse with each other.

"Did dat twoipette say she's goin' do Mt. Silver?"

"She certainly did, but now I'm wondering why would she ever have to go there."

"Hmph. Well there's gotta be some good reason. Twerps and twerpettes are stupid, but they're not mindlessly stupid."

The disguised villains began to think to themselves on why their new target were to ever go to something so dangerous as Mt. Silver.

"Hey," spoke up James, grabbing his teammates' attention, "when our original twerp disappeared eight years ago, I do remember hearing the Kalos-twerpette going on a six year quest to find him, though of course, she couldn't find a single trace."

"What are you going to, James?" asked Jessie.

"Well, I was thinking that maybe the reason why the twerpette is heading to Mt. Silver is to look for her lost twerp friend, wouldn't you think?"

At first, Jessie and Meowth had really doubtful faces, but after thinking about it for a little, they started to think the same way as well.

"I believe."

"Me doo."

"And it's gotta be because-"

"And dee only reason why-"

"Love." they both finished.

"As I mentioned before, love makes you do the craziest things. I know I've done plenty of crazy things for the boys I once had a crush on."

"And back when I lived in Hollywood, I'd done anyding I could to gain Meowzie's attention. Or for dat Glameow before she became dat hideous Purugly."

"Love." both Jessie and Meowth said once again.

"And it's for that one reason only the twerpette is going to Mt. Silver."

"I guess that makes sense," said James, "but how is the twerpette really sure she'll find her crush over there?"

"Well like I said, twerps are stupid, but they're never mindless stupid, so she seems to know where she's going and what she's doing." Jessie pointed.

"And if we follow her, den we'll be able to find our first twoip, and just dink of all dee powerful Pokémon he would have on him by now!"

"Yes, and those powerful Pokémon of his would just blast us away like they always do." moaned an unsure James.

"Oh, don't worry too much about that, James," assured Jessie. "Unlike all of our past encounters with him, _we_ actually now have full teams! I have my darlings; Seviper, Gourgeist, Swoobat, Jellicent, Yanmega, and of course, Wobbuffet, and you have Carnivine, Malamar, Confagrigus, Cacturne, Mime Jr., and Chimecho."

"Are you mad?!" James shouted to Jessie. "I'm not letting my two delicate babies get into any scuffles with the twerp's Pokémon!"

Both Jessie or Meowth could argue back, two younger trainers approached them, one male and one female.

"Excuse me," said the male trainer, "we overheard you guys and it sounds like you two have some really strong Pokémon."

"Would you two mind if we have a double battle?" the female trainer politely asked. "We're getting ready for the Ultimate Champion Tournament so-"

"CAN'T YOU BRATS SEE WE'RE HAVING A PERSONAL CONVERSATION HERE!?" Jessie furiously asked the two trainers, swinging her fists around.

Frightened, the two trainers ran away.

"Hmph. Kids these days just don't know any manners." Jessie huffed.

"Too annoying," added James, "but going back to the twerp, what if he's not at Mt. Silver after all?"

"Easy, if the twerp is not there, then we'll just corner the twerpette and steal her Pokémon."

"I like dat idea!" enthused Meowth.

"As long my babies don't get hurt, I'm fine on whoever we steal from."

"Then that settles it! Now, let's get a move on before the twerpette gets farther away."

 **(plays Team Fortress 2 Main Theme (starts at 0:10) from Team Fortress 2)**

Team Rocket rushed out like a blur out of the Pokémon Center, blowing away Nurse Joy's hat in the process.

"Uh, come again?" spoke the confused nurse.

Jessie, James, Meowth, and Wobbuffet ran to Route 22 and when they were a good enough distance away from Viridian City, they took off their disguises and started up their Meowth Hot Air Balloon. After activating the propellor engines on the basket sides, Team Rocket searched around for Serena across the entire route. They looked and looked for minutes until they heard heavy footsteps not too far from below their balloon which turns out was Serena on her Rhyhorn. The two had made a lot of distance on the route ever since they left Viridian City and they were already close to the gates of Mt. Silver.

With the target in sight, Team Rocket lowered their balloon into the forest where they inflated the balloon, got off the basket, and carefully sneaked through the trees to spot Serena and Rhyhorn entering the gate building doors.

Team Rocket tiptoed to the gate walls and started to spy on Serena.

 **(plays Online Practice Stage from Super Smash Bros. Brawl)**

Inside the Mt. Silver gates were two desks on parallel sides with one guard each. Upon noticing the girl and Pokémon that came in, the two guards stood up with the one on the right reaching his hand out to Serena.

"Halt," ordered the right side guard, "no one is allowed to access Mt. Silver without proper authority approval."

Serena reached into her backpack to take out the paper with Professor Oak's signature. Smiling, she handed it over to the guard who halted her.

The other guard went over to his partner's side to read the paper with him. When they were done, they both nodded to each other and faced the trainer.

"Alright, you may go through."

"Just remember to be careful."

Serena bowed to the guards and said, "Okay. Thanks." And she and Rhyhorn passed by the desks and entered through the doors that led to Mt. Silver's base.

After seeing Serena leave the gates, Team Rocket backed away from the window to the bottom-right corner of the building's exterior where the guards wouldn't see them.

"Alright, now how are we going to sneak past the guards?" Jessie asked her teammates.

"Just leave that to me." James spoke up with a smirk.

The blue-haired Team Rocket member released Confagrigus from his Pokéball and then gave him another one. James whispered something to Confagrigus and the Pokéball in the coffin's ebony hands and the Pokémon nodded in response.

 **(plays SMB Ghost House from Super Mario Maker)**

Confagrigus turned himself and the Pokéball in his hands transparent and he sunk beneath the earth his trainer and teammates were on.

Then, inside the Mt. Silver gates, Confagrigus, still transparent, rose above the floor between the two guards who were both unaware of his presence. Following his trainer's orders, Confagrigus threw the Pokéball in front of the Mt. Silver base entrance doors, releasing Malamar out from it. The two guards were completely surprised until the giant squid quickly used Hypnosis on the both of them, putting them to sleep. Confagrigus then made himself visible again and called out for his trainer.

"Confa!"

"Plan: success." James said to himself before he got up and led Jessie, Meowth, and Wobbuffet into the gates where they discovered James's Pokémon with the two sleeping guards.

"Whoa. Nice one, James." remarked Jessie who was really impressed.

"Dat was spot-on genius."

"Hmph, it was nothing." said James as he petted his two Pokémon before recalling them into their Pokéballs.

"Alright boys, let's find our twerpette to lead us to her twerp before she gets farther away."

"Right."

Team Rocket ran out of the gates to enter the Mt. Silver base, leaving the two sleeping guards behind.

* * *

 **(plays Snowman from Super Smash Bros. Brawl)**

Thanks to Rhyhorn, Serena was able to make it through the first parts of the base, making her way to the central mountains where the tallest one was at. They were far away, but she wouldn't give up.

So far, it wasn't too bad. The only real obstacles that she and Rhyhorn had faced were a few small cliffs and rocky hills to climb over. There were some wild Pokémon who weren't pleased seeing intruders in their territory, but thanks to Rhyhorn's speed, they were able to avoid getting attacked and get far away from them too.

By the time the sun was starting to set, Serena and Rhyhorn had made it to Silver Town, or at least what was left of it. What once was the town famous for the Silver Conference was now just a huge wasteland filled with destroyed trees and building pieces with the two lakes on the western and eastern areas now overflowing just a little.

Upon entering the ruined town, Rhyhorn stopped in his tracks as Serena looked around.

"Wow, Jimmy was right. This place is just completely desolated."

Serena then figured how much distance Rhyhorn has covered by now, so she pointed to the overflowed lake at the eastern side.

"Hey Rhyhorn, let's go over to that lake so you can have a drink."

The rhinoceros Pokémon started to make his way to the body of water. Upon reaching an edge of the lake, he begun drinking up some fresh water.

Serena got off Rhyhorn during this and she took out a few Oran Berries from the berry kit in her backpack to feed Rhyhorn once he was finished drinking. As he munched on the berries, Serena kneeled down next to him to pet him, wanting him to take a good break for all the distance he has traveled so far.

After Rhyhorn finished his small meal, he suddenly sniffed something rather suspicious in the air around them. Turning around, he saw a tall and serious-looking man approaching him and his trainer from behind, glaring at them. Serena followed Rhyhorn's movement and saw the same thing.

 **(plays Clash with Evil Personified from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater)**

"Um, who are you?" Serena warily asked the stranger, standing back up.

"Who I am is none of your business, kid," the man rudely responded. "The main question right now is who are _you_ and why someone young as you would be in a place like that?"

Serena very slightly lowered her eyes and said, "Well I'm sorry, but that information in none of _your_ business too. Besides, if you really want to know, then I asked you first."

The man continued to glare, but after figuring the girl wouldn't be much of a threat by just looking at her, seeing her as just small and helpless in battle, he said, "Hmph, I'm just your regular person in the world. Training Pokémon and earning some well-deserved money here and there. My name is Jeremy Frederick, what about you?"

"Well," started Serena, though a little unsure, "my name is Serena and I'm from Kalos. I'm here because I want to find the Legend of Mt. Silver."

The man raised a brow for a bit before he said, "Hm, small world. That's exactly why I'm here too, well, besides some other things."

"Why are you looking for the Legend?"

"Oh, just to settle some "family business"?"

"Wait, you're related to you him?"

"Hell no, kid. By "family business," I meant that the Legend might've apparently been the reason for my lout-of-a-brother's arrest. The arrest was quite the shame too. Not only did my brother bring shame to the good name of poaching, but can you just imagine all that money he would've made if he had gotten away? Tch, big disappointment if you ask me, but that's why I'm here. When my dumb bro told me about the Legend, I figured he was real after all since my brother never lies on his missions. Not only will I chop the head of the Legend once I find him, but I can also finish where Jerry left off."

Serena silently stared at the menacing man in front of her, not sure on how to respond to this.

"So what about you, kid? Why are you searching for the Legend?"

"Well, the Legend happens to be a really good friend of mine and-"

"Y'know what, I really don't care." Jeremy interrupted as he tossed up a Great Ball that released out a Victreebel.

 **(plays Ublik Passage - Captain Slag from Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction)**

In the air, Jeremy's Victreebel fired a Razor Leaf attack down towards Serena and Rhyhorn, forcing them to dodge the attack by leaping over to their right.

"Sorry kid," Jeremy dishonestly apologized, "but I can't risk a brat like you ratting me out to the authorities. Nothin' personal, you're just a mere obstacle in the way. Victreebel, Energy Ball."

Jeremy's Victreebel launched a green orb of energy down towards Serena and Rhyhorn, once again forcing them to quickly dodge the attack, though they both fell to the ground from the blast radius when the Energy Ball hit the ground.

"No way I'm letting you get in the way of my search!" Serena yelled to Jeremy as she and Rhyhorn got up. "Delphox, I choose y-"

Before Serena could grab her starter's Pokéball, Rhyhorn jumped in front of her, grabbing her attention.

"Ri rii! Ri-horn!"

"What's that? You want to battle?"

Rhyhorn nodded and Serena smiled back.

"Alright, I believe in you. Rhyhorn, go get em'!"

 **(plays This Will Be The Day from RWBY by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams)**

Rhyhorn cried out a strong battle roar before he started charging towards Jeremy's Victreebel, who was now in front of his trainer at a lower altitude.

"A rock and ground type against a grass type?! How dumb are you? Victreebel, take it out in one hit with Energy Ball!"

Victreebel fired another Energy Ball towards his charging opponent.

"Type advantage isn't everything! Rhyhorn, jump above and use Megahorn!"

Rhyhorn jumped up before the Energy Ball hit the ground, using the blast to launch himself faster to Victreebel and struck the fly trap with his green-glowing horn.

"Now use Dig!"

Rhyhorn burrowed himself underground to attack Victreebel from underneath.

Jeremy, on the other hand, looked around for a way for his Pokémon to avoid the upcoming attack. Turning his head to his left, he saw what he needed.

"Victreebel, use Vine Whip on that tree to avoid Rhyhorn's Dig!"

Victreebel, who had just gotten up from the Megahorn, threw the brown vine over his mouth to the tree his trainer was referring to, wrapping it around a branch and pulling himself towards it, just managing to dodge Rhyhorn's attack in time. Up at the tree, Victreebel, swung below the branch and then landed on top of it, retracting his vine.

"Alright Victreebel, use Razor Leaf!"

"Counter that with Rock Blast!"

From the tree, Victreebel fired a large number of sharp leaves down towards Rhyhorn who fired back a multitude of rocks. The two projectile attacks collided with each other, creating a thick cloud of smoke as a result.

"Take down the tree, Rhyhorn!"

Without Victreebel seeing him, Rhyhorn rammed his head to the tree the plant was on, and thanks to Rhyhorn's great head strength, the tree was uprooted and fell down, sending Victreebel to the ground.

"Okay Rhyhorn, use Megahorn again!"

Rhyhorn rolled from behind the uprooted stump to Victreebel's direction. With his horn glowing green once again, Rhyhorn charged towards him to attack.

"Use Energy Ball when he gets close!"

As soon Rhyhorn bashed through the branch Victreebel was previously on before the tree collapsed, Victreebel quickly got up and fired a point-blank Energy Ball to Rhyhorn's unsuspecting face. This caused the rhino to get blasted high to the air, but he quickly regained his composure and landed back on his feet safely, albeit, panting a little.

"Rhyhorn, are you okay?"

The rhino nodded.

"Heh, not for long! Victreebel, strike a good Vine Whip on his head!"

Victreebel jumped high to the air and extended his brown vine again to strike down Rhyhorn. The rhino watched as the vine got closer and closer to him, waiting for his trainer's orders.

"Grab the vine with your mouth!"

Before Victreebel's vine could lash him, Rhyhorn ran ahead and leaped up towards it, biting down hard on the vine. Victreebel landed back down and he tried to take it back, but Rhyhorn's grip was too strong.

"Now swing him around!"

Right where he was standing, Rhydon repeatedly rampaged all around like an uncontrolled member of his species with a first time rider. This made Victreebel crash into the ground, several trees, and many broken debris from buildings, causing severe damage.

Rhyhorn then finished things off with a midair somersault, causing Victreebel to get slammed on the ground in front of the rhino, dragged right under him, and swung up to the air again. Rhyhorn then opened his jaw instantly after the somersault was over, sending Victreebel flying into what was left of a nearby house. When the dust cleared, Victreebel was knocked out.

Jeremy growled as he recalled his fallen Pokémon back to its Great Ball and he faced Serena, glaring at her once again.

"Got any more?" taunted Serena.

"Tch, I do," answered Jeremy as he started to pull something out of his right pocket, "but why waste anymore time if I could just finish this quick?"

Serena saw what Jeremy was pulling out of his pocket in time, spotting a pistol, quickly alarming her. As soon the poacher pointed the weapon towards her, Serena quickly leapt down and somersaulted to a building debris nearby and Rhyhorn followed. Both of them ducked behind the debris as the poacher started to walk towards it.

"So that's how he wants to play it." Serena silently said to herself and her Pokémon. "Okay buddy, I have a plan."

"Come on out little girl, this will only hurt for a second." Jeremy creepily delivered.

Suddenly, out from the debris he was heading for, a Pokéball was tossed out over Jeremy's head, landing a few feet away from him. Taking things cautiously, Jeremy pointed his gun down to the capsule, waiting for a Pokémon to come out, though what he wasn't expecting was the trainer to fight back.

With the poacher distracted, Serena took out her sword and ran out from her hiding spot. Jeremy heard her footsteps and turned around, but before he could react, Serena leapt towards him, stuck her sword to the ground, and gave the poacher a good kick to the face before she spun around and landed behind her weapon, having to have held onto its handle.

Jeremy rubbed his face and growled at the girl, pointing his pistol at her once again, only for Rhyhorn to pop out of his ball behind him and ram into his back, sending Jeremy to the ground and his gun to fall right out of his hands. He got back up and tried to retrieve his weapon, but was knocked back to the ground due to a midair kick from Serena, who had jumped from her sword's handle (which was still on the ground).

"Ugh!" grunted Jeremy as he fell. "That's not even how you should use a sword!"

"That may be, but I'm no brute like you!"

Rhyhorn then got behind the poacher and flung him high to the air with his head. Jeremy could scream and pathetically flail his arms around as he started to fall back down, only for Serena to take her sword out of the ground, pointed the handle towards Jeremy, and threw it right for his forehead. From where the handle struck left a huge circular bruise and the poacher landed hard on the ground, now completely unconscious.

 **(music stops playing)**

Whew. Thank you Palermo." said Serena as she placed her sword back into her backpack. Rhyhorn ran towards her and she knelt down to his level to pet him.

"You did a great job, Rhyhorn! Are you badly hurt?"

Rhyhorn shook his head.

"Heheh, well, you should at least heal up from that battle with Victreebel." Serena said as she took out a few Sitrus Berries for Rhyhorn to eat.

As Rhyhorn snacked on the berries, Serena stood back up and approached the unconscious poacher.

"Hmph. That'll teach ya to be a no-good Pokémon poacher."

Of course, there was no response.

"Oh wait, hold that pose." Serena mocked as she took out her phone and took a picture of Jeremy, sending it to the national Pokémon police force so that they could send the closest Officer Jenny to arrest him.

Once Serena was done with that, she released Absol from her ball so that she could use Ice Beam on Jeremy's arms and legs, freezing them in blocks of ice so he wouldn't escape if he were to wake up. When Absol was done, Serena thanked her and recalled her back to her Pokéball and Rhyhorn walked back to his trainer's side.

"You feeling all better, Rhyhorn?"

He nodded.

"You sure?"

He nodded again.

"Are you _100%_ sure? I don't want to tire you out, especially since you just finished a battle."

Rhyhorn walked a few steps ahead of Serena and faced his back towards him, telling her he's completely fine and absolutely willing to still let her ride on him.

"Well, if you're completely sure, then let's get going."

Serena sat down on Rhyhorn's back and the rhino dashed away, leaving Silver Town completely behind almost instantly.

But there was still a lot more to go through.

* * *

And that's Chapter 8!

Yep, Serena is not only great trainer, but she can easily take care of herself as well thanks to her training with Palermo.

And Team Rocket will just never give up on Ash as always.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review (or PM if you want) of your thoughts, suggestions, question, anything!

Just please don't be rude or mean. If you're going to be like that, I won't respond and you may get blocked for your behavior.

Thank you all and have a nice day!


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